2013 Chapelle Chambertin

Bright, healthy red. Raspberry, smoke and licorice on the nose, lifted by a rose note. Silky and minerally on entry, then sappy and enegetic in the middle, showing more grip and more powdery tannins than the Alea. At once salty and lively on the lingering, nicely ripe finish.

The 2013 Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru has an austere bouquet that wants to be taken seriously. You feel like disturbing someone reading a classic novel. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin that envelop a core of very pure dark cherry and cassis fruit that belie the structure underneath. Again, there is superb focus and energy within, completing what is a very impressive Chapelle-Chambertin. ||In a show of solidarity, in 2013 Jean-Louis Trapet sold his Bourgogne Rouge to fellow biodynamic winemakers in Volnay who had been devastated by the hail. Apart from that demonstration of charity, Jean-Louis has presided a deeply impressive range of 2013s that may even outclass his outstanding 2012s. He told me that he used around 30% whole bunch fruit for his premier crus and 40% for the grand crus. They are very taut and linear wines, pure and direct, laconic even compared to their peers, wines that will repay cellaring. I found that the terroir expression here was magnified by the growing season and perhaps also by the biodynamic practices that Jean-Louis abides by. The wines are a little overlooked by cognoscenti, who perhaps pay more attention to Jean-Marie Fourrier just up the RN74. But do not ignore these marvelous 2013s. eRobertParker.com.January, 2015