The 2001 Chambertin Grand Cru from Rossignol-Trapet has a clean and precise, quite perfumed and floral bouquet with lovely redcurrant and cranberry scents, an undertow of mineralité that comes through with time. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, crisp acidity, fresh and precise with impressive tension. It is neither a powerful nor long-lived Chambertin, but it is very well crafted and yielding more pleasure than most at 17 years of age. Tasted at Sarah Marsh’s 2000 and 2001 horizontal tasting.

Medium red. Wild aromas of spiced plum, truffle, smoke and earth; evolving in a graceful way. Sweet and fine-grained but still youthful and not particularly expansive. There are some distinctly cool, even slightly green notes of menthol and pepper but this wine is still short of peak maturity. Finishes with dusty, lively tannins and a note of licorice.

The 2001 Chambertin Grand Cru from Rossignol-Trapet was clearly fashioned from promising raw materials, but it is dominated by an excessive application of new wood. Notes of medicine cabinet and raw new oak mingle with hints of dried fruit, introducing a wine with nice juicy energy, sadly dominated by wood tannins that clamp down on the gums.