2006 Chambertin Clos de Beze

Bright medium red. Captivating but reduced aromas of raspberry, smoked meat, dried flowers and spices. Juicy and vibrant but youthfully unforthcoming, offering excellent energy and grip to its intense raspberry, spice and stone flavors. Best today on the very long, lively aftertaste, which features substantial dusty tannins and terrific architecture for aging. I would not be surprised if this merited a score in the mid-90s a decade from now.

Deep red-ruby. Pure but reticent nose hints at wild berries, crushed stone and dried flowers. Pure, pungent, sappy and almost painfully young today, with terrific intensity to its tight core of berry, mineral, floral and spice flavors. Finishes with outstanding palate-saturating length. This is likely to be one of the longer-lived wines of this vintage. At this point in our tasting, Hervet compared 2005 and 2006 to the 1961/1962 pair, noting that the '62s were balanced for long aging.