2013 Gevrey Chambertin Lavaux St Jacques

Healthy bright red. Aromas of ripe cherry, red licorice, menthol, mint and fresh herbs. Sweeter than the 1er Cru and less austere today, offering excellent intensity and a distinctly savory quality to its tangy red fruit and saline flavors. Still a bit linear but this boasts excellent inner-mouth tension and éclat . Finishes vibrant and long, with firm tannins that avoid coming off as dry. Dugat told me he normally prefers the estate's 1er Cru, but not this year.

The 2013 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St Jacques, which, like all of the crus, is 100% new oak, has a clean, quite linear bouquet with dark berry fruit that at the moment shows quite a lot of wood. The palate is medium-bodied, fleshy in the mouth, with sappy red fruit, the oak better integrated here than on the nose since there is more fruit to carry it on the finish. There is a pleasant spicy aftertaste struggling to express itself under the wood, so hopefully that will surface during bottle age. I remain cautious at the moment.

The 2013 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St Jacques, which, like all of the crus, is 100% new oak, has a clean, quite linear bouquet with dark berry fruit that at the moment shows quite a lot of wood. The palate is medium-bodied, fleshy in the mouth, with sappy red fruit, the oak better integrated here than on the nose since there is more fruit to carry it on the finish. There is a pleasant spicy aftertaste struggling to express itself under the wood, so hopefully that will surface during bottle age. I remain cautious at the moment. Dec 2014, www.robertparker.com