2015 Pommard Les Rugiens

From barrel, Thierry Glantenay's 2015 Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens was one of the most powerful wines in the cellar, with considerable texture and dimension, but it has taken a while to come together after bottling. This was its best showing yet, confirming the promise it revealed on both occasions when I tasted it from cask. Offering up aromas of cherries, ripe red berries, rich spices and subtle hints of forest floor, this Rugiens is an ample, full-bodied wine, but it's wonderfully satiny and succulent, with a juicy—even tangy—core of fruit that's beautifully delineated and mouthwatering. This has all the amplitude and dimension you'd expect from an old-vine Rugiens, but it's deceptively structurally elegant, without any of the chewy rusticity commonly associated with Pommard. It's a great wine and may end up rivaling Glantenay's superb Volnay Clos des Chênes in the fullness of time.