2017 Chambertin, Grand Cru, Domaine Denis Mortet, Burgundy

Once again there is an admirably discreet application of wood lurking in the background of the markedly cool, airy and restrained nose that offers up notes of red currant, game, leather, violet and lavender. The broad-shouldered flavors are borderline painfully intense while exuding almost palpable amounts of minerality on the driving, linear and exceptionally firm yet beautifully well-balanced finale. This is clearly built for the very long haul and is a wine that will need it.

Drink from 2037 onward

There are three new barrels of the 2017 Chambertin Grand Cru, an integrated but reserved wine that offers up notes of dried rose petals, grilled meats, espresso roast and sweet berries. On the palate, it's full-bodied, ample and satiny, with excellent depth and a tight-knit core that's framed by a fine but firm chassis of structuring tannins. Less forthcoming than the Mazis-Chambertin and Bonnes-Mares, it likely also has a longer future.

3 barrels. Medium deep red, nothing more than the others. The nose however tells a different story with an explosion of pure ripe strawberries, detailed and elegant. Then a really stylish, elegant mouthful, perhaps more alpine strawberries, but it is more a question of the delicacy and detail while retaining intensity. Certainly quite ripe fruit.

The 2017 Chambertin Grand Cru contains 40-50% whole bunches and is matured in 100% new oak the only cuvée to do so.) It has quite an intense bouquet and as you would expect, the new wood is expressed as much as the fruit at the moment. With time, scents of tobacco and undergrowth emerge. The palate is very well balanced with grippy tannin, quite saline in the mouth with plenty of tightly-wound, detailed black fruit towards the lengthy finish. It will require several years in bottle but will be worth the wait.

Drink 2023 - 2045

It's a close-run thing, but this is even better than the Mazis in 2017, made with what Arnaud Mortet says are some of the most beautiful grapes he's ever seen. Hailing from a 0.15ha holding of 60-year-old vines, it easily handles its 100% new oak, such is the precision, texture and concentration on offer here. One of the wines of the vintage.

Drink 2025 - 2032