The 2019 Chambertin Grand Cru is an incredibly complete, flawlessly balanced 2019 that will certainly give the 2018 a run for its money, although it's a more rounded, sexy wine that will be drinkable at an earlier age. Giving up lots of savory red fruits, spice, graphite, and chalky minerality, it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a plush, layered mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and a great finish. It has a touch of that “iron fist in a velvet glove” vibe with its up-front fruit and solid underlying structure. Give bottles 4-5 years if you can and enjoy over the following two decades.

About 0.3 ha of 60-year-old vines. ‘The idea was to have the proprietor rent me the vines and I look after them and pay the going rate for the maximum yield for the area.’ So his grapes cost a lot but he says he can’t make a wine if he doesn’t look after the vines. Cask sample. Very dark crimson. Heady and intense. Very rich and magnificent. Truly a noble, ambitious wine even if not the subtlest. With lift and majesty. Some sweetness but not excessively so. Just still a little dry/bitter on the finish but the Bernstein style is evident, uncompromising and ambitious. (JR)