Tasting Notes
Wine Advocate 92
As I reported when I tasted it from barrel, Bouchard’s source insisted on picking very late in this vintage, and the 2018 Chambertin Clos de Beze Grand Cru is accordingly the headiest, ripest wine in the cellar by some margin, labelled at a tariff-busting but also surely honest 15% alcohol. Offering up an extravagant bouquet of orange rind, raspberries, ripe plums, rose petals and incense that’s framed by a generous application of spicy oak, it’s full-bodied, fleshy and enveloping, with broad shoulders and a sweet core of sun-kissed fruit, built around melting tannins and concluding with noticeable alcoholic warmth. This is a challenging wine to score fairly, since its high octane style is sure to prove divisive and I suspect it won’t make old bones; yet at the same time, Frederic Weber has clearly done a fine job with the fruit he received.
Anticipated maturity: 2020-2033