Les Ouvrées Rodin is a small cuvée of Clos de Bèze, selected from vines that are more than 60 years old. It's worth trading up from the regular release, assuming you have the funds, because this is altogether richer, more complex and more concentrated. The 40% new oak is very well done, adding some cinnamon spice to the dense black cherry and blueberry fruit.

This is even more floral-inflected with an abundance of spice elements adding breadth to the airy and cool aromas of primarily red berries. Once again the mouthfeel of the medium-bodied flavors is quite sleek if not necessarily more complex on the sappy, focused and strikingly persistent finish. This is actually quite similar in quality and expression though with just a bit more mid-palate concentration.

The 2017 Chambertin Clos de Bèze Les Ouvrées Rodin Grand Cru comes from a single parcel that has been bottled separately since 2010, though it had always been vinified on its own. Erwan Faiveley told me that it is broader in style than the regular cuvée, possibly because of massal selection. It has a lucid ruby color and a very intense bouquet of dark red cherries with touches of undergrowth, wild heather and hints of Japanese nori. The palate is medium-bodied, offering thicker tannin than the regular cuvée, and deeper and more powerful, yet I actually prefer the finesse shown on the regular cuvée. That’s just me, and I think Erwan Faiveley understood!