2015 Domaine Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Saint-Jacques 1er Cru

The 2015 Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St.-Jacques 1er Cru has more fruit intensity than Jean-Marie Fourrier's (implying just a slightly later picking, perhaps), offering copious black plum, raspberry, sous-bois and subtle tobacco scents that are beautifully defined. The palate totally delivers: harmonious, succinct, beautifully structured, with perfect acidity that imparts a disarming sense of symmetry, and brilliantly articulated terroir expression on the sustained finish. Bon vin, très bon vin . Tasted blind at the annual Burgfest tasting.

Tasted blind, the 2015 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos Saint-Jacques was showing very well indeed, unwinding in the glass with a lavish bouquet of red-black fruit, petroleum jelly, candied peel and a framing of cedary new wood. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, deep and velvety, with considerable concentration at the core and a firmer, more structured profile than it showed in February, suggesting that it is shutting down. The finish is long and succulent, displaying excellent ripe acids.