2002 Chambolle Musigny Les Cras

The 2002 Chambolle-Musigny Les Cras 1er Cru has a warm and generous bouquet with red plum, leather, undergrowth and a light stemmy scent (even though this is actually completely de-stemmed!). The palate is slightly sweeter and more confit-like compared directly with Roumier's Les Cras, displaying fine definition with a detailed, lightly peppered finish. This is drinking beautifully now. Tasted blind at the Roumier Les Cras vertical at Medlar, London and also at La Trompette three months later.

Medium red with a bright rim. Captivating aromas of raspberry, strawberry, mocha, cinnamon and underbrush, plus a note of chlorophyll. Silky and sweet but with a strong edge of acidity giving shape and lift to the terroir-driven flavors of red berries, slate, pepper and earth. This wine was sensual from the start, noted Ghislaine Barthod, who added that 2002 "just lacked a bit of phenolic maturity--2014 is riper." Still a touch tight on the back end, finishing with sweet tannins and good peppery lift. Really exhilarating sugar/acid balance here.

The 2002 les Cras from Ghislaine Barthod is a very pretty wine and a fairly soil-specific example of the vintage. The lovely bouquet offers up scents of cherries, red plums, woodsmoke, mustard seed, a touch of nutskin, a discreet signature of soil and a bit of weediness in the upper register. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, still very primary in personality and fairly closed, with a good core, still some firm tannin to resolve and a long, tangy and well-balanced finish. This still needs at least a few years to blossom.