The 2015 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru is spectacular, wafting from the glass with a dramatic bouquet of sweet grilled meat, red and black fruit, candied peel and rich soil. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, ample and powerful, with a lavishly gourmand attack that evokes the 2009 rendition, but this quickly segues into the mid-palate of an altogether more tautly structural, serious wine, its considerable dimension and concentration underwritten by racy acids. The finish is long and firm. This is a monumental Clos de Bèze built for the long haul.

Bright, dark red. This grand cru's typical early exotic character is masked today by strong oakiness. Very large-scaled, tactile and powerful if not as sweet as usual in the early going, conveying an impression of huge extract. Wonderfully silky and thick but not yet expressive in spite of its superb energy and lift, as the wine's dark cherry, spice and game flavors are currently blocked by oak. More massive but less refined than the Chambertin, with the tannins coming across as tougher and a bit dustier today. I have no doubt that this wine is simply passing through an awkward stage, but it's hard to imagine that it will ever equal the astonishing Chambertin.

The 2015 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Grand Cru has to address some reduction issues at first, although there is plenty of brambly red berry fruit, cranberry and pomegranate on the nose. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannin and layers of red and black fruit infused with crushed stone and veins of blue fruit. There is wonderful harmony and tension here, and real precision and intensity toward the finish that testify to the greatness of the 2015 vintage. Serious, delicious and quite compelling. Expect that plus sign against my score to come into play as this Clos-de-Bèze matures in bottle. Tasted blind at the annual Burgfest tasting.

100% new oak. Clos de Bèze keeps the oak flavour a bit longer so Cyrielle serves it after the Chambertin. Sample from the François Frères barrel: Much more dramatic and pushy on the nose than the Chambertin. Ripe purple fruits. Very sweet and brazen. Sample from the Rousseau barrel: Much better behaved and savoury. Easier to see the fruit. Good savour on the end. Opulent but not pushy. (JR)