2014 Domaine Arlaud Père & Fils Clos Saint-Denis Grand Cru
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Tasting notes
Good dark red. Penetrating, pure scents of red cherry, red plum, rose petal, spices and red licorice. Juicy but very tightly wound, showing less sweetness today than the Clos de la Roche. Much more backward and imploded, even a bit disjointed in the early going, finishing with substantial tongue-dusting tannins and lingering notes of spicy oak and pepper. This was remarkably perfumed and brisk from barrel but is dominated by its spine today.
Critic scores
Average Score
Neal Martin
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
(12. 6% natural alcohol): Good bright, dark red. Explosive nose combines black raspberry, violet pastille, rose petal, licorice, bitter chocolate and minerals, along with a distinctive soil quality. Juicy, precise and penetrating, with very intense purple fruit flavors framed by brisk acidity. Really perfumes the mouth and wakes up the taste buds on the firmly tannic, very long finish, which conveys a strong impression of salty minerality. Delivers an uncanny combination of pure fruit, energy and salinity.
The 2014 Clos St Denis Grand Cru (three barrels this year) has a touch more complexity on the nose than the Clos de la Roche, armed with blood orange infusing the red berry fruit, with the mineral scents (cold limestone and flint) here more expressive. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, crisp in the mouth, structured and mint-fresh, maybe without quite the same degree of charm as the Clos de la Roche on the finish. Still, this is a fine Clos Saint Denis, but it will require a few years in the cellar for its backbone to soften and to gain more finesse.
The 2014 Clos Saint-Denis Grand Cru has a potent nose: hickory, licorice and light charcoal scents infuse the mainly black fruit. There is a sense of presence here. The palate is medium-bodied with dry tannins. Like many 2014 reds, it feels a little hollow on the mid-palate; more flesh is needed, especially on the slightly attenuated finish.