Tasting Notes
JancisRobinson.com 17.5
Sweet and rich on the nose. Some gaminess. Racy and transparent, maybe a hint of oak. Very youthful and a bit all over the place at the moment.
Anticipated maturity: 2024-2038
Robert Parker 90-92?
The 2014 Clos Saint-Denis Grand Cru has a very refined bouquet with black cherries, boysenberry, a touch of graphite and a touch of sous-bois. The palate is medium-bodied with a crisp acidity, chalky tannin, very tight at the moment, much more saline than the Echézeaux with a brisk finish that just needs to flesh out. This was the one Grand Cru that did not quite meet my expectations, a surprise as it’s one of my favourites from Dujac. Perhaps it was just toying with me and will rise phoenix-like in bottle? Domaine Dujac is one of the most “visible” and well-known domaines in the world. By that I mean that Dujac has never born the parochialism of Burgundy — willing to travel to overseas markets, engage with consumers whether that is face-to-face at tastings or in recent years via social media. (In this respect, Burgundy is still far behind Bordeaux, though to be fair it’s not like Burgundy domaines can host a marketing department of full-time social media managers like they do there.) Certainly traveling around the New World, every winemaker is aware of Dujac and has experience of their wines. Fortunately, Domaine Dujac has a tendency to create splendid wines and not in a predictable way. They don’t “play it safe” year after year and seem always open to ideas, whether that is in their use of whole bunch fruit (a central and abiding tenet), the use of concrete eggs for maturation of the whites, or on this occasion, experimenting with biodynamics.
Anticipated maturity: 2018-2030
Vinous 93+
Good medium red Fresh but reticent aromas of red berries, dried flowers, spices, flint, caramel and complex soil tones Juicy, tight and youthfully imploded but already hinting at compelling sweetness of fruit The very tight, gripping tannins will need many years of patience to harmonize with the wine’s mid-palate material I marginally preferred this wine to the Clos de la Roche in late 2015 but it’s a bit spikier today
Anticipated maturity: 2025-2037
