The Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux St.-Jacques takes hold of the palate and never lets up. At once explosive yet inward, the 2012 boasts superb depth and concentration. Today, it comes across as quite raw in its unbridled energy. This should be fabulous once the tannins soften. Sweet, floral notes add an attractive element of lift as the wine opens up in the glass. A wine of volume, the 2012 is going to need at least a few years to come together. Arnaud Mortet gave this fruit a few extra days on the vine to achieve more phenolic ripeness. The results speak for themselves.

(70% new oak; cropped at 35 hectoliters per hectare): Distinctly wilder on the nose than the foregoing samples, offering blackberry and game aromas. Dense, silky, very ripe and deep, with a distinctly glyceral, creamy character to the palate-saturating dark fruit flavors. Finishes with outstanding breadth, suave tannins and explosive fruit. Due to the high percentage of millerande grapes, the potential alcohol here was 12.7%, the highest ripeness that Arnaud Mortet can recall for this premier cru. This beauty leaves the taste buds quivering.

The 2012 Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux St-Jacques is a great wine. To be honest, at the beginning it comes across as rather bold and showy, perhaps more New World than Burgundy. However, it really comes into its own after 90 minutes in the glass. It completely mellows on the nose, offering ripe and beautifully defined crushed strawberry, raspberry and pomegranate scents tinged with vanilla and violet. The palate is ripe and supple on the entry, the plush cassis and blackcurrant fruit countered by a keen line of acidity and wonderful harmony towards the finish. If you want to broach this in its youth then I strongly advise decanting for an hour or two, or preferably leave it in the cellar for another three or four years.