2011 Chambertin Clos de Beze
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 2011 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze brings together the best qualities of this site as seen through Olivier Bernstein's very personal style. Blue/purplish fruit, cloves, violets and new leather all flesh out in a gracious, refined Bèze with considerable near and medium-term appeal. Overall, the 2011 relies more on finesse than power, which is somewhat uncharacteristic for Bèze.
Critic scores
Average Score
Allen Meadows, Burghound
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Good dark red. Deep, complex aromas of red cherry, red- and blackcurrant, smoke and minerals. Spicy and soil-driven, with terrific minerality and acid spine keeping the wine sharply delineated and youthfully imploded. Really razor-sharp focus here. For all its acidity, this still hints at a silkiness to come. Finishes with a multidimensional perfume of herbs, pepper, mint and minerals, and terrific grip.
Deep ruby-red. An exotic black fruit cocktail on the nose and palate, complicated by minerals, spices and flowers. Delivers an uncanny combination of density and weightlessness, with pungent minerality giving punch to the wine. Suave, fine-grained tannins saturate every square millimeter of the palate and dust the insides of the front teeth on the resounding finish. This may yet match the extraordinary 2010 version. (Bernstein's totally reduced and utterly unevolved 2011 Clos Vougeot was impossible to taste in November.)
Very dark purple. Meaty and juicy. Special and with wonderful density. Very sweet beguiling start and a tannic finish but lots of allure in the middle. Savour and not too sweet. Lots of concentration and firmness. Dense and upright. Awfully but inspiringly youthful. Should be exciting in the long term. (JR)
About the producer
Olivier Bernstein is among the most successful producers in Burgundy, setting the bar high for the growing number of micro-négociants in the region by producing wines that compete with those of the Côte d’Or’s finest domaines.