2015 - Clos de la Roche Grand Cru Cuvee Vieilles Vignes, Ponsot

The 2015 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru Cuvée Vieilles Vignes continues to show very well, and as it settles down in bottle, the tangy acids that underpin its ripe, sun-kissed fruit are becoming more apparent. Aromas of red berry compote, plums, blackberries, dark chocolate and peonies introduce a full-bodied, powerful wine with considerable mid-palate amplitude, structured around fine-grained tannins that are coming to the fore now that this Clos de la Roche it tightening up in bottle—though they remain largely cloaked in the wine's lavish core of fruit. It's an excellent wine, and I see no reason to alter my score or drinking window given earlier this year.

Full medium red. Multidimensional nose combines black cherry, dark raspberry, mocha, brown spices, crushed rock and mellow soil tones. Wonderfully concentrated and elegant, and more expressive in the early going if a bit less sappy than the Chapelle-Chambertin. Offers a mix of red and black fruits (the Chapelle is more black in character) as well as a medicinal menthol quality that suggests the wine will evolve slowly. This plush, broad, mouthfilling wine finishes very long, with suave, refined tannins and captivating minerality and savory soil tones. In a dozen years, my score may look low.