Clos des Lambrays, Domaine des Lambrays 2015

The 2015 Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru wafts from the glass with a youthfully reticent bouquet of mulberry, plum, cocoa nib, game bird, currant leaf and mossy soil, its framing of new oak already nicely integrated. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, framed by an ample chassis of savory, fine-grained tannins, and underpinned by bright acids which already seem appreciably more vibrant than they did from barrel. This has already begun to shut down after bottling, but its immense potential is impossible to miss: a controlled and beautifully balanced Clos des Lambrays.

**Note: produced from two large parcels of differing vine age - one that is approximately two-thirds of the blend and is now 50+ years of age and a second, smaller group of vines that is approximately 25+ years of age; made with 100% whole cluster**Here too the nose is quite ripe yet very fresh with its layered array of spicy and markedly floral-inflected black cherry and plum scents that are trimmed in both discreet wood and menthol nuances. There is impressive size, weight and power to the more mineral-driven and refined medium-bodied flavors that are shaped by a distinctly firm tannic spine on the wonderfully persistent and mildly austere finale. This is first-rate and one serious wine in 2015 and thus be prepared to allow it at least 10 to 12 years first.

Once again the nose is quite ripe yet very fresh with its layered array of spicy and markedly floral-inflected black cherry and plum scents. There is impressive size, weight and power to the more mineral-driven and refined medium-bodied flavors that are shaped by a distinctly firm tannic spine on the wonderfully persistent and mildly austere finale. This is one very serious wine in 2015 and thus be prepared to allow it at least 10 to 12 years first.