2016 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart Grand Cru

The superb 2016 Clos de Tart Grand Cru confirms the promise it showed from barrel, unfurling in the glass with a striking bouquet of raspberries, rose petals, blood orange, black tea, spices and smoked meats. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, pure and ample, with a deep core of vibrant, searingly intense fruit that entirely cloaks its structuring chassis of satiny tannin, concluding with a long and captivatingly floral finish. More elegant and transparent than the richer and fleshier 2015, this is an exceptional vintage for Clos de Tart. That there are fully 27,000 bottles makes this one of Burgundy's rare confluence of quality and quantity.

(an approximation of the final blend): Bright, deep red. Very pure but reserved aromas of raspberry, crushed rock, rose petal, spices, mocha and tobacco, lifted by a calcaire pungency. Compellingly silky and seamless but with terrific energy and subtle intensity to its dense flavors of red berries, dark cherry, spices and powdered stone, complicated by a saline quality. This wonderfully complex, perfumed, penetrating wine is distinctly red in character for a Burgundy with 13.5% alcohol. Finishes suave, complete and classically dry, with outstanding slow-building length and great class. Winemaker Jacques Devauges describes this wine as "at the level of 2015 but for different reasons."

The 2016 Clos de Tart Grand Cru was assessed from a blend of all the component parts (except the young vines) that I previously tasted separately, as I have done over the last decade. The final blend will be 80% new oak, whereas my sample contained 100%, although this was discrete and enmeshed with the fruit. It has a fascinating bouquet, much more nuanced than those from a decade ago, dark fruit, a little earthier, with the stem addition lending it more freshness and even, dare I say, slightly green—and I mean that in a very positive sense. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp acidity, a core of slightly candied black cherry and blackcurrant fruit framed by quite “strict” tannin and a fresh, marine-influenced, brine-tinged finish that lingers long in the mouth. There is a sense of harmony and completeness here that, even over 20 years tasting at this address, I have rarely encountered. You can just feel the frisson in this wine. One of the finest wines from the Cote d'Or in 2016. It's that simple. Dec 2017, www.robertparker.com