2008 Domaine Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Saint-Jacques 1er Cru

The 2008 Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St.-Jacques 1er Cru is an absolute joy to behold and in terms of drinking now a sheer pleasure, surpasses both the 1996 and 2005 tasted the previous day. It bursts with pixelated red cherry and strawberry fruit on the nose, laced with minerals and light citrus scents. The palate is powerful and certainly not dense. Yet it possesses disarming transparency and fabulous precision, weightless yet paradoxically intense with a long tail on the finish. It is more a Clos Saint-Jacques of texture and feeling than obvious fruit descriptors. Wonderful. Tasted at Fook Lam Moon in Hong Kong.

The 2008 Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St. Jacques is an unusually warm, pliant 2008. The use of 80% new barrels here undoubtedly contributes to the wine’s open, generous expression of fruit. The Clos St. Jacques is a beautiful wine, even at this early stage. Anticipated maturity: 2018-2038. I tasted the following wines with Frederic Robert, who works alongside Eric Rousseau. In 2009 Rousseau and his team began picking on September 7, the earliest in Gevrey. For the first time the estate used 20% whole clusters on all the wines except for Clos de la Roche, which was closer to 15%. The 2009s were scheduled to be bottled in April 2011. I also tasted a handful of 2008s that were deeply impressive. Importer: Frederic Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700