2014 - Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos Saint-Jacques, Bruno Clair

(50% new oak): Good bright, dark red. Captivating nose combines raspberry, dried rose petal, peppery herbs and complex soil tones. Pungent salty minerality further energizes the wine's sappy raspberry and blood orange flavors. Surprising for its enveloping texture, this classic, firmly built Clos Saint-Jacques should enjoy a slow and graceful evolution in bottle. Bruno Clair noted that, unusually for an October harvest, this fruit actually continued to ripen by photosynthesis, whereas that late in the season any further ripeness is normally a function of concentration (i.e., essentially loss of water) on the vines. By the way, Clair opened a bottle of the 2013 Clos Saint-Jacques next to this wine and it displayed outstanding depth and thickness of material allied to pungent acidity, precision and minerality. On this day, I gave the 2013 a slight edge--94 points--but I'd certainly enjoy tasting these two outstanding wines side by side again in ten years.