Tasting Notes
Vinous 98+
Medium red, a bit less saturated than the Clos de Beze. Pungent aromas of wild red berries, smoke, earth, iron and wild herbs. Almost shockingly silky in the mouth, but with crushed-stone minerality lending force to the blackberry, licorice and earth flavors. Incredibly sappy but edge-free wine with an explosive, endless finish that titillates the salivary glands. Longer than the Clos de Beze but that wine is a bit sweeter today, with darker, more exotic flavors. This Chambertin is not yet showing its flesh but if it puts on weight with extended bottle aging, which I expect it to do, it may eventually merit a perfect score. A monument of the vintage.
Robert Parker 95-97
The 2010 Chambertin is exceptional for its polish and sheer elegance. Nothing in particular stands out, instead the Chambertin impresses for its fabulous overall sense of harmony. The integration of fruit, tannin and oak is beyond impeccable. Silky tannins wrap around a finish laced with dark red berries, licorice and sweet spices. Anticipated maturity: 2025-2050. My visit with Eric Rousseau was one of the highlights of my fall trip. The 2010s are fabulous from top to bottom. Rousseau started picking on September 22. The fruit saw about four days of cold soak followed by a cuvaison that lasted anywhere from 15 to 21 days, depending on the wine. I was equally thrilled with the 2009s I tasted from bottle. I will have more on those wines in our April issue.
Anticipated maturity: 2025-2050
Burghound 98
Somewhat ironically, this is both more elegant and fresher than the Clos de Beze with one of the most complex noses of the entire vintage as it combines a seemingly endless array of spice, mineral, fruit and Gevrey sauvage characters. The impressively rich, serious, mouth coating and broad-shouldered flavors possess superb volume and muscle on the sensationally persistent and explosive finish. This is even more backwards than the Beze and should be capable of rewarding 20 plus years of cellar time as the tannins are also quite fine but very dense. At such an early juncture I honestly can’t say whether this will exceed the brilliant 2009 but it just might as the 2010 is clearly one of the best five wines of the vintage.