2015 Domaine Sainte Barbe Viré-Clessé "Chazelles"

(14.3% alcohol; bottled in April; an assemblage of lieux-dits in a cuvette protected from the north wind in Chazelles; these vines are 30 to 50 years of age): Distinctly riper and "sunnier" on the nose than the Mâcon-Villages Les Tilles, displaying peach and fresh apricot aromas. A honeyed quality adds fat to this slightly glyceral wine, but the wine's sweetness (3.5 grams per liter) is nicely countered by decent acidity. Still, this is less taut and minerally than usual, according to Chaland, who noted that one of these parcels was harvested with potential alcohol of 15.2%. Incidentally, this wine was formerly bottled as Domaine des Chazelles. (A retaste of the 2014 showed sexy, evolving scents of honey, spices, pepper and fig, along with a wild truffley quality. Silky flavors of yellow fruits and honey are complicated by notes of game and earth. Very solaire on entry, then more minerally on the back half. Good acidity firms the finish but the 2015 may be suaver.)