2016 Domaine Arlaud Père & Fils Clos Saint-Denis Grand Cru

Very dark red with ruby tones. The first wine among these 2016s that shows more black than red fruit character, but quite perfumed as well owing to its notes of licorice, rose and lavender. Dense, sappy and pure on the palate, conveying an exhilarating sugar/acid balance even if the wine is less expressive today than the Clos de la Roche. But this taut, energetic wine boasts a tightly coiled spring in the context of this collection. Finishes with a whiplash of a finish, the dark fruit and floral flavors outlasting the late-arriving fine tannins. This superb wine is going to need a minimum of five or six years of cellaring upon release. The yield here was below 35 hectoliters per hectare without any frost losses, according to Arlaud.

The 2016 Clos St Denis Grand Cru has a little more whole bunch than the Clos de la Roche at 30%, matured in three one-year-old barrels. It has a more harmonious and fragrant bouquet than the aforementioned grand cru: red berries, kirsch, hints of Seville orange marmalade and fresh dates. The palate is medium-bodied with sweet, ripe tannin, well-judged acidity, red fruit at first merging with black fruit leading to quite a structured but not imposing finish. It will deserve several years in bottle but it will be worth the wait.