1996 Jérôme Chezeaux Clos Vougeot

Community Tasting Notes (2) Avg Score: 94 points

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  12/27/2014 - Keith Levenberg Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Performance today was like an upside-down bell curve. Instantly impressive and packed with character from the pop of the cork, then curling up into a shy little ball, and finally reopening for the last couple of sips. But that first glass - woah. I keep having to remind myself to pay more attention to the Neal Rosenthal Burgundy producers that nobody talks about because they're too busy chasing Fourrier or something. This is kind of in a similar style, in that the first thing you notice about it is how gentle and refined it is - this is not one of those Clos Vougeots that's about sheer power and torque. But it is nevertheless very structured in a sneaky kind of way. There is still a great deal of tannin here but you don't notice it at first because it is so refined and cashmere-soft. In that period before the aromatics closed up, this also offered up very perfumed scents of Vosne-like brown spices and a bit of enticing barrel spice, along with deeper earthy scents hinting at more mature Burgundy barnyard. Then all of this stuff crawled into hiding and the wine didn't offer up much more besides light red fruits, though it was still very satisfying to drink on account of that ultra-refined texture that just blanketed the palate. At the end the tone deepened and some of the more interesting flavors reemerged, so all in all this was a nice window into a really beautiful Clos Vougeot that is probably about 5 years away from a very long and graceful drinking window. This is a great plot of the Clos too--top of the slope near the chateau.

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  5/16/2008 - rjoyer wrote:

  This one never found itself during the night, or today for that matter. Awfully backwards. I cannot guess if this is in a bad spot or if there is hope down the road. Leathered red fruits and dried herbs on the nose, with dehydrated cherries and barnyardy characteristics. Uninspiring.

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