The 2015 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux Saint-Jacques from Domaine Denis Mortet is superb—and further confirmation that this is a wonderful vintage for the Lavaux Saint-Jacques, opening in the glass with a wonderful bouquet of sweet cassis, cherries, rich soil and wood smoke which is still quite youthfully fruit-driven. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, deep and layered, with an authoritative chassis of rich, velvety tannins cloaked in succulent fruit, and a long, sapid finish. This is an ample, even lavish Lavaux Saint-Jacques that nonetheless remains precise and controlled, fully realizing the potential of the vintage.

The 2015 Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux Saint-Jacques 1er Cru has a lovely bouquet with cranberry and wild strawberry, a little more floral than other vintages. The palate is medium-bodied with crunchy raspberry, tart red cherry, blood orange and touches of allspice. There's just a little hardness on the finish that suggests the 2015 needs more time. Excellent.

(30% vendange entier ; 60% new oak): Deep, bright red-ruby. Captivating, nuanced nose offers scents of black raspberry, licorice pastille, mocha, menthol and spices; comes across as darker and wilder than the Champeaux. Then sharply focused and very intensely flavored but more more backward and less fruity than the Champeaux. Most impressive today on the very long, rising back end, which features gripping tannins, an obvious chocolatey oak element and a note of saline minerality.

Really very alluring and beautifully sweet and nicely balanced. Very gorgeous indeed. Long. Neat. (JR)