2013 Clos Vougeot

Good dark red. Sexy aromas of dark cherry, minerals, licorice and smoke, plus a whiff of charred oak. Still a touch reduced but lush, deep and packed with dark cherry and dark berry fruit. The licorice note returns on the horizontal, rising finish, which features suave tannins and leaves the salivary glands vibrating.

Raw and backward, wood still palpable, but a degree of refinement and layering that bodes just as well as you would hope. Highly impressive. (AH)

Bright, dark red. Medicinal aromas of black cherry and menthol lifted by a floral topnote; classic Clos Vougeot! Densely packed, sweet and powerful but in an essentially pliant style, offering lovely purity to its flavors of black cherry, blackberry, violet and licorice. Conveys a somewhat high-pH saline character and finishes with substantial dusty tannins, yet this wine displays noteworthy delicacy and lift. (Méo's ripe but very reduced Echézeaux Les Rouges du Bas was too clenched, salty and saline to assess in November.)