2017 - Beaune 1er Cru Cuvee du Cinquantenaire Vieilles Vignes, Roche de Bellene

The 2017 Beaune 1er Cru Cuvée du Cinquantenaire offers up a pretty bouquet of delicately earthy red berry fruit, plums, raw cocoa, peonies and cinnamon. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, supple and succulent, with understated depth at the core, tangy acids and powdery tannins, concluding with an impressively structured finish for the appellation and the vintage. While it's sufficiently charming to be approached now, it will show very well after five or six years in the cellar. As usual, it's a blend of five premiers crus: Pertuisots, Montée Rouge, Les Bressandes, Clos du Roi and Reversées.