The 2017 Clos de Tart Grand Cru was matured in around 80% new oak, the barrels toasted chauff blonde. Jacques Desvauges mentioned that the wine needed oxygen ingress during maturation that only new oak can give. I tasted the component parts (as usual) as well as the blend. This has a very detailed, delineated bouquet offering mainly black fruit mixed with sous-bois, tobacco, clove and bay leaf, the typicité of the appellation showing through nicely. It feels very succinct and yet so fresh. The palate is beautifully balanced on the entry with a killer line of acidity. Pure black cherry fruit is joined by bilberry, hints of black olive and a marine/oyster shell tincture that comes through quite strongly toward the persistent, saline finish, which fans out with confidence. This is a brilliant follow-up to the benchmark 2016 by Jacques Desvauges and his team.

The 2017 Clos de Tart Grand Cru is a little shut down after its recent bottling, but it is showing beautifully, wafting from the glass with aromas of sweet red berries, plums, wilted rose petals, peonies and dark chocolate, with only hints of the complexity to come with bottle age. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, supple and succulent, with an ample and enveloping core of fruit, powdery tannins and succulent acids, displaying good concentration and concluding with a long and perfumed finish. This is a fine showing for Clos de Tart, and despite its elegance, this 2017 will evidently reward bottle age.

This wine is superbly elegant and more accessible at this stage than either the '18 or the '19 vintage. The texture is silky, almost soft, yet there is enough substance to linger invitingly on the mineral-accented finish. Some reduction still marks the nose, but there is a forward, aromatic raspberry fruit with an edge of violets and liquorice spice. Drinking already, this will last another decade or more in a proper cellar.