2016 Gevrey Chambertin Evocelles

The 2016 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Evocelles is a stunning young wine, unfurling in the glass with notes of violets, rose petals, Griotte cherries, wild berries and subtly savory nuances of forest floor and smoke. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, with a vibrant line of acidity, an immensely layered mid-palate that conceals a chassis of velvety structuring tannin, and incredible length on the precise, mineral finish. To my mind, this cool and stony hillside site in Brochon is a de facto premier cru, and it always produces a finer, more tensile wine than the fleshier, heartier renditions of Gevrey that emerge from the terroirs that sit in the village's alluvial fan. While my drinking window reflects my sense of the optimal time to pull corks, readers looking for an insight into the direction being taken by the Domaine Dugat-Py could do worse than try a bottle in its infancy.