Burghound (98)

Here too there is just enough wood in evidence to mention on the gorgeously spiced and intricately layered aromas of essence of red currant, floral, plum, earth and a whisper of the sauvage. Once again the mouthfeel of the notably more imposingly-scaled flavors is sleek with excellent minerality that really comes up on the super-saline finish that goes on and on. But what I really admire about the '16 Bèze is the texture because it's at once muscular yet highly seductive and refined. This is a very, very powerful wine that is seriously impressive in every respect. In a word, brilliant.

Vinous (96)

The 2016 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Grand Cru has a generous and pleasing nose with scents of strawberry preserve, crushed stone, rose petals and subtle orange-blossom. This is refined and transparent. The palate is medium-bodied with chalky tannins. Beautifully balanced, this has a symmetry that is beguiling and classic. A little austere finish suggests it will benefit from several years in bottle. Utterly beguiling with enormous ageing potential. Tasted blind at the 2016 Burgfest tasting.

Burghound (93-95)

A ripe but brooding nose features aromas of spiced black raspberry, red currant and floral notes. The powerful, concentrated and distinctly earthy broad-shouldered flavors possess plenty of muscle as the dense and firm mouth coating tannins will require at least 15 years to resolve. I very much like this very rich effort as it's a Bèze of imposing size and weight along with explosive length yet it retains a fine sense of harmony and balance. Once again, note well though that patience is necessary.

Vinous (92+)

Bright medium red. Strong oak tones partly mask aromas of red berries, rose petal and medicinal menthol. At once dense and taut, with savory, firm-edged flavors of cranberry, minerals and white pepper giving the middle palate an incisive character. Not a fleshy wine--in fact a bit youthfully compressed today--but finishes perfumed, focused and long, with pepper and saline mineral notes displaying a slightly tart edge.

Wine Advocate (93-95)

The 2015 Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru is raised in 80% new oak with 20% whole bunch. It has a very detailed and focused bouquet with precise blackberry, raspberry and morello cherry aromas neatly infused with mineral scents. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, powerful without losing control and building towards a very structured, spicy finish. Whilst I would still dial down the oak to 50-60%, nevertheless it remains a very well-crafted Chambertin with plenty of substance and ambition, and that ain't a bad thing when you are a Clos-de-Bèze.

Vinous (95-97)

The 2018 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Grand Cru includes 30% whole-bunch fruit, though this is the one grand cru where you cannot detect the stem addition, just the copious dark cherry, raspberry, cedar and undergrowth aromas that gain intensity in the glass. The palate is supple on the entry, the acidity neatly counterbalancing the intensity of the fruit. This Clos-de-Bèze has real grip and an arching structure on the finish, suggesting that it will be a seriously long-lived wine. Excellent.

Vinous (94+)

Bright medium red. Deep, musky nose combines cranberry, raspberry, cardamom, faded rose and crushed stone. Sweet, seamless and energetic, offering almost painful cut to the tart red berry, spice and musky underbrush flavors. Outstanding savory lift in the middle palate. Wonderfully lightness of touch here. Very backward wine with all the Cos de Bèze food groups: red fruits, minerals, spices, flowers, crushed stone. Stains the palate and leaves the taste buds quivering on the very long, firm finish. But still a baby today and in need of a decade of cellaring.

Vinous (94-96)

The 2017 Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru comes from two parcels. It has a charming bouquet of ebullient raspberry and wild strawberry aromas; hints of vanilla pod and rose petal lend complexity. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, gentle grip and a saline, oyster-shell-tinged finish that lingers in the mouth. This is one of Faiveley’s most impressive offerings in 2017. Superb.

Vinous (94-97)

(made from same plot of 60+-year-old vines on the Chambertin side of this grand cru as in the past; 100% destemmed): Bright dark red. Raspberry and a touch of reduction on the nose. Then dense, sappy and high-pitched in the mouth, with terrific intensity and saline complexity to the intense red berry flavors. Notes of menthol and crushed stone contribute to an impression of youthful tightness. Harder to taste today than the classic Clos de Bèze, which is showing more energy and salty minerality in the early going. But this is subtler and longer on the aftertaste, with a distinctly floral, feminine character that reminded me of a great Chambolle-Musigny. Very different in style from Faiveley's basic Clos de Bèze, but is it better?

Vinous (95-97)

The 2020 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Grand Cru has a very delineated, quite floral bouquet with rose petal infusing the mixture of red and black fruit. There is a touch of sous-bois that become accentuated with time. The palate is fleshy and almost confit-like on the entry, but the acidity keeps this on an even keel. Plush, luxuriant...almost sexy (I dislike the word apropos Burgundy) but there is something very sensual about this wine. Very long in terms of length. Superb.

James Suckling (96)

Perfectly ripe strawberries with raspberry and citrus undertones. It’s medium-to full-bodied with really fine tannins that are nicely wrapped in ripe fruit. There’s a savory, lightly meaty highlight to the flavors. It’s long and complex in the finish. Really balanced and attractive now, but will deliver even more in the future. Better after 2023.

James Suckling (96)

Perfectly ripe strawberries with raspberry and citrus undertones. It’s medium-to full-bodied with really fine tannins that are nicely wrapped in ripe fruit. There’s a savory, lightly meaty highlight to the flavors. It’s long and complex in the finish. Really balanced and attractive now, but will deliver even more in the future. Better after 2023.

Vinous (94-97)

Good medium red. Extravagantly complex nose combines raspberry, wild rose, crushed rock, clove, mocha and wild herbs. Wonderfully subtle, spherical and nuanced, communicating an almost 3-D texture to the flavors of red berries, spices, licorice, herbs and flowers. The wine's firm spine of tannins is utterly covered by lush, fleshy fruit today. The thick, slowly rising finish washes over the palate like a wave.

Wine Advocate (96)

Jadot's 2015 Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru is stunningly good in the 2015 vintage, bursting from the glass with a primary bouquet of candied red cherry, plum, rose petal, coniferous forest floor and a hint of the black truffle to come, judiciously framed by new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, ample and deep, with wonderful concentration and depth, its generous core of ripe fruit underpinned by bright, racy acids. This still need time to come together—15 years, ideally—but its potential is immense.

Wine Advocate (96+)

Tasted from bottle, the 2016 Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru (Domaine Louis Jadot) is showing marvelously, unfurling in the glass with a deep bouquet of juicy cherries, cassis, blood orange, violets and rich spices, its framing of new oak already almost entirely integrated. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, multidimensional and utterly complete, with a bottomless core of cool, sappy fruit that entirely conceals its supple but abundant tannins. Immensely concentrated and strikingly structurally refined, this is a brilliant Clos de Bèze that's more classically balanced than the more overtly ripe 2015.

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (95-98)

Lovely dense mid purple, the nose has massive energy but not yet much detail. Then such an explosion of riotous fruit, joyously ripe pinot but still pure pinot. A little touch of menthol behind the ripe cherry notes with raspberry chaser. Amazing length. Very fine indeed. Tasted: November 2021

Wine Advocate (98)

The single-vineyard Sorte O Soro had not been produced since 2016, and the 2019 Sorte O Soro is the next vintage after that. This plot has always shown additional elegance, freshness and salinity since he started vinifying it in 2004, because of the altitude (710 meters above sea level) and the north exposure to the Bibei Valley, where the old clone is planted on fine granite sand and quartz soils. Like As Sortes, this Sorte also fermented and matured with lees in new 500-liter French oak barrels for eight months. It has 14% alcohol with a pH of 3.12 and higher acidity (at 7.5 grams) than the rest of the 2019s. It feels very harmonious, elegant and nuanced with some creaminess, with notes of wet pollen and yellow flowers. The palate reflects the soil, with vibrant granite and very fine sand and electric quartz (saline), and it's also round and powerful from the clone that is planted in the vineyard. This vineyard is in the process of being organically and biodynamically certified. 2,240 bottles were filled in September 2020. I tasted the 2019s and 2020s from Rafa Palacios in Valdeorras. For him, these are two very good years. 2019 had a mild and dry winter and a rainy and cold spring that delayed budding, followed by a mild summer with fewer hours of sunshine, which meant a delay in the ripening process. Harvest was more than one month later than usual, and the grapes achieved very slow ripening and full development of aromas and flavors while keeping the acidity. The harvest started in October and finished in November. It's a beautiful, homogeneous vintage with very good wines. 2020 saw a moderately cool and rainy winter and a dry and cold spring that resulted in 20% less bunches than in 2019. The summer was also quite dry but, fortunately, not too hot. Given the low yields, maturation was accelerated, and the harvest began at the beginning of September for Louro and from September 25th for As Sortes. Given the scarce water, the plants had to work harder deep down into the soil, which marked the wines; the silica and quartz from the sandy soils of O Bolo shaped a saline identity and the wines achieved a lot of elegance and balance. It's a more heterogeneous vintage, and the higher-altitude vineyards behaved better. The 2020 O Soro is out of this world. He gave me a quick preview of the very cold 2021, a vin de garde vintage but a challenging year with a lot of rain. They are in the process of certifying their vineyards (organic and biodynamic), but they have some problems in the vineyards with neighbors who are not organic, so it will probably be faster for O Soro and Sorte Antiga.

Decanter (98)

Sampled from a vat, this is one of the best As Sortes I have ever tasted, comparable to the iconic 2011. It's a prodigy of subtleness and elegance. Everything is firmly delicate in this wine. Restrained aromas open up parsimoniously, with a steely structure like a great Burgundy, but with flinty acidity almost like Grosses Gewächs from Rheingau. Despite the fact that the sample was not yet bottled, the wine had no oak influence, just the indication that it had been aged, as top Godello must. Rafael Palacios is refining his work year after year, reaching the magic of the greatest wines. A top wine, and one to keep.

Wine Advocate (95)

The 2015 O Diviso felt closed, more reticent, and seems more powerful, despite the fact they did a nonextractive vinification; they did nothing and let the wine ferment at its own pace. This matured in one 600-liter oak barrel, and this is the only red that has a slight note from the oak. There is also a relevant amount of Garnacha Tintorera, so the combination of a warm year, the small barrel and the varietal mix resulted in a more austere and backward wine that is going to require more time in bottle. The fruit is darker and the wine is more powerful than the 2014. It might evolve with time in bottle, because it certainly has the stuffing to do so, but today As Caborcas was singing, and I have to give it the edge. 895 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2016.