2015 Domaine Louis Jadot Clos de la Roche Grand Cru (Pre-Arrival)

Notes of wood and menthol combine with those of red currant, dark raspberry and plenty of earth and game scents. The velvety yet quite powerful big-bodied flavors also brim with sappy dry extract that pushes the otherwise notably firm tannic spine to the background on the built-to-age, balanced and wonderfully persistent finale. (92-94)/2032+ (4/2017)

The 2015 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru has a voluminous and extravagant bouquet with blooms of red berry fruit, although I found myself more drawn to the complex and intellectual Clos Saint-Denis. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannin. This is a masculine, assertive Clos de la Roche, quite saline in the mouth with a feisty, spicy finish. This is a fine grand cru from Louis Jadot, though not one of their top releases this vintage. (12/2016)

(a blend of purchased wine from two sources): Good full red. Aromas of cherry, herbs and oak show a youthfully medicinal quality. Powerful but a touch dry; this strikes me a bit energetically extracted at the expense of the vintage's potential silkiness. The medicinal menthol quality is complicated by notes of brown spices and earth, but the wine's primary fruit is very much in the background today. Finishes dry and imploded, with strong tannins. Not my favorite style of Clos de la Roche. Jadot has eight barrels of this wine, four made via a classic vinification, according to Barnier, and four using more modern, extractive techniques. (1/2017)

Very oaky nose that is forceful rather than elegant. Sleek on the attack, initially lean until the tannins creep up on the palate and impose themselves on the fruit. Rather rigid and brutal now, showing a certain roughness. The Clos St Denis (a domaine wine, unlike this) seems better in 2015. It's not clear that the austerity will disappear with time, and the finish is rather dry. Drinking Window 2020 - 2035 (2/2017)