1985 Domaine Armand Rousseau Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru

Here is a curious one. Eric Rousseau himself served the 1985 Chambertin Clos de Bèze from magnum and bottle. Theoretically, the former should have been the better, but the general consensus was that the bottle was the one to go for. It has a wonderful sense of purity on the nose: intense small red cherries, wild strawberry, mineral and wilted flowers all beautifully defined and very "85."The palate however, does not quite match the heights of the nose, nor does it match the brilliant Ruchotte-Chambertin 1985 from Rousseau tasted a few months ago. Though it is supremely well balanced, it does not convincingly express a sense of breeding or complexity, as if it suddenly got stuck in fourth gear. This is not a bad Rousseau by a long chalk, but if I am honest, I was anticipating a little more.