Revisited from bottle, the 2018 Beaune 1er Cru Les Grèves Vigne de l'Enfant Jesus is showing very well, unfurling in the glass with a brooding bouquet of dark berry fruit, ripe cherries, warm spices, baking chocolate and subtle soil tones. Medium to full-bodied, deep and muscular, it's rich and powerful, with ripe tannins and a voluminous core of fruit, concluding with a long, heady finish. When I tasted this wine from barrel, Bouchard's Frédéric Weber observed that analytically this 2018 is very similar indeed to the 1947 vintage of l'Enfant Jesus, and in its controlled but overt ripeness the analogy seems even more obvious from bottle.

Bouchard's evocatively named parcel is a monopoly holding that covers 3.9ha on sand and gravel soils in the heart of Beaune Grèves. Picked early but still pretty ripe, this has tobacco pouch and clove aromas from 20% whole bunches, layers of mulberry and raspberry fruit, aromatic 20% new wood and a backdrop of sinewy, granular tannins.

The 2018 Beaune Les Grèves Vigne de L'Enfant Jesus 1er Cru, from the 3.9-hectare monopole in Grèves, has a lovely, floral, very pure bouquet that frankly puts Bouchard’s other Beaune Premier Crus in their place. The medium-bodied palate delivers supple tannin, fine acidity and pure black cherry and blueberry fruit with wonderful details on the finish. This is very classy and punches with many more expensive Premier Crus in the Côte de Nuits.

Vanilla-cream oak notes, a touch of dried herb and dense, ripe strawberry. Full-bodied, with firm, quite fine tannins and a creamy, long finish. I’d like a little more acidity to freshen this up, but it does have plenty of intensity. (TJ)