2023 Domaine Georges Roumier Morey-St-Denis 1er Cru "Clos de la Bussière"

The 2023 Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru Clos de la Bussière offers up aromas of cherries, raspberries and plums, along with hints of baking chocolate and spices. Medium to full-bodied, lively and layered, it's rich and charming, with a rather open, gourmand profile for a wine that's sometimes among Roumier's more structured bottlings. At 13.8%, this is one of the higher alcohol wines in the range, as is often the case. After producing a ripe, muscular trio in 2018, 2019 and 2020, Roumier seems to have reposted with a quintessentially elegant trio in the form of 2021, 2022 and now 2023. Alcohol levels range from 13.3% to 13.8%, much as in 2022; and, as in 2022, while Roumier tries to delay his malolactic fermentations, he didn't succeed this year, meaning that the wines were very easy to taste when I visited. Harvest began on September 13, and yields were good, much the same as in 1999, even though the vineyards are on average older. Of the 2021, 2022 and 2023 trio, 2023 appears to be the softest and most giving, and the wines will offer a broad drinking window.(WK)