2014 Domaine Arlaud Père & Fils Clos de la Roche Cuvée Unique Reserve Grand Cru

Medium red. A sexy note of reduction to the aromas of strawberry, brown spices, game and rose petal, plus a whiff of white truffle. Plush, silky and utterly seamless; wonderfully full for the vintage yet with no undue weight. The red cherry and saline mineral flavors are less expressive than those of the Ruchots, conveying a restrained sweetness. This is best today on the back end, where it displays sappy, subtle flavor intensity and spreads out to saturate the palate and build on the long aftertaste.

Good medium red; not the darkest of this collection of 2014s. Much more aromatic on the nose than the Charmes-Chambertin, offering scents of raspberry, boysenberry, flowers and spices. The wine's balance of sweet and juicy is exhilarating. Airy, incisive and light on its feet for the vintage, with bright acidity hiding the wine's underlying volume in the early going. Finishes very long and perfumed, with firm but very fine-grained building tannins. Still a bit youthfully imploded but offers terrific potential. Clos de la Roche typically has a relatively high pH yet always tastes fresh, notes Arlaud.

The 2014 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru, of which there are seven barrels this year, has a detailed, "cool" bouquet that gradually unfurls in the glass, offering Morello, crushed strawberry and cold limestone scents. The palate is beautifully balanced with fine tannin, gently gripping the mouth, with the mineral core very expressive on the finish. This is the standout 2014 from Cyprièn this vintage.