2015 Clos de Tart

The 2015 Clos de Tart Grand Cru is a monumental young wine, opening in the glass with a brooding bouquet of wild berries, peony, orange rind, licorice, espresso roast and spice. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, powerful and multidimensional, with an enormous core of vibrant fruit, an ample chassis of fine tannins and a beautiful line of acidity. While the vintage has brought an extra dimension of concentration and power to this Clos de Tart, it remains wonderfully controlled through the long, palate-staining finish, and the terroir—including its proximity to Bonnes Mares—is front and center. With his first solo vintage at Clos de Tart, Jacques Desvauges has evidently hit the ground running. Cropped at 22 hectoliters per hectare, vinified with 40% whole cluster, and aged in 80% new wood.

(13.6% alcohol; from a crop level of just 22 hectoliters per hectare): Deep, bright red with ruby tones. Deeper and darker on the nose than the young 2016, offering hints of black raspberry, medicinal cherry, mocha and crushed rock; seems already to be closing down. Plump and thick in the style of the year; superripe but not at all cooked. The chewy flavors of dark fruits, stone, mocha and brown spices convey strong mineral-driven energy for the vintage, as well as the sheer dry extract to support the wine's serious tannic clout. This hugely concentrated wine spreads out horizontally to saturate the palate on the powerful, slowly mounting finish, which leaves behind an impression of medicinal reserve. Winemaker Devauges is not convinced that this wine will shut down in bottle "because of the quality of the grapes and the tannins," but I think it's inevitable. He vinified with an average of 40% whole clusters in 2015 and did just three punchdowns during the course of three weeks of maceration. By the way, this wine has a slightly lower pH than the 2016: 3.6, vs. 3.7.