2015 Gevrey Chambertin Les Issarts

(25% vendange entier ; 45% new oak): Bright, dark red-ruby. Captivating aromas of dark raspberry, smoky soil tones and salty minerality, plus a suggestion of graphite. Wonderfully deep, plush wine with complex flavors of raspberry and saline minerality accented by peppery herbs. This energetic, finely balanced wine finishes with lively tannins and palate-staining fruit. Technical directly Jerome Flous finds it more salty and tannic than usual but the finish offers compelling perfume. The upper portion of this vineyard, situated on pure stone, was replanted in 2005, while the lower part features 50-to-60-year-old vines on deeper soil. The two components are like two different wines, notes Flous.

Clos des Issard is a Faiveley monopole located just north of the Clos de Ruchottes – the upper part of Ruchottes-Chambertin owned by Domaine Armand Rousseau. It’s a 0.6095 ha 1er cru that Faiveley acquired in 2002 after renting the vineyard for around 50 years. The soil is limestone, and the terroir is a bit like Ruchottes-Chambertin. The 2015 Clos des Issard is a beautiful and refined Gevrey with a lovely generous fruit and a fine and filigree minerality. The nose offer juicy red berry fruit delivered and focused by the fine limestony minerality. On the palate rich and cool with more focus and detail than the Laveaux. The fruit is beautiful and juicy but perhaps not quite as energetic as the exuberant Laveaux … but nevertheless a both gorgeous and very delicate 2015 – a very interesting terroir. Jun 2016, www.winehog.org