1995 Hubert Lignier, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru

One of the highlights in this tasting, the 1995 Clos de la Roche (magnum) is a real stunner. All the elements come together effortlessly in the glass. Deep, powerful and intense, the 1995 comes across as a hypothetical combination of the 2005 and 2010, with the volume of fruit of the former and the energetic tannin of the latter. Sweet red cherry, plum, mint, chalk and rose petal infuse a deeply expressive, nuanced Clos de la Roche that is at its peak today. Above all else, the wine’s balance here is simply remarkable. Some tasters find the 1995 rustic. I don’t share that opinion.

Saturated red-ruby color. Sauvage, superripe aromas of briary black cherry, espresso and tar; intriguing whiff of mushroomy earth. Large-scaled and dense; truly three-dimensional in texture. A wine of great sweetness, but also sharply focused and juicy on the palate. Ripe tannins coat the entire mouth, but are outlasted by explosive finishing fruit.

The 1995 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru has a very sweet and figgy nose with oodles of black cherries, clearly demonstrating a lot of extraction, excessive in my book and consequently denuding it a sense of place. The palate has a sweet core of red fruit tinged with liquorice, powerful and burly with a persistent finish. Yet, where is the elegance of Pinoté? It's just not my preferred style of Clos de la Roche. I feel like I'm being bullied.