2018 Gevrey-Chambertin, Lavaux St-Jacques, 1er Cru, Domaine Denis Mortet, Burgundy

Mid crimson. The tannins here are finer than on the Gevrey Mes Cinq Terroirs, more chalky. Overall fresher and more red-fruited. Plenty of fruit pleasure and enough freshness but not particularly charming. Good length. 

Drink 2024 - 2032

From 5 different parcels situated all over the appellation that total 1.17 ha.

A distinctly cool and restrained nose offers up ripe and ultra-fresh aromas of red and dark currant, pungent earth and plenty of forest floor character. The equally sleek, intense and tautly muscular flavours also exude an abundance of minerality on the impressively persistent, compact and youthfully austere finish. This markedly firm effort needs to add depth but it's very promising.

Drink from 2033 onward

The 2018 Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux Saint-Jacques 1er Cru is completely de-stemmed and raised in 70% new oak. It has a very well-defined bouquet of raspberry and wild strawberry scents, plus pressed rose petal and a touch of orange pith. The palate is very well-defined with supple tannins, a perfect line of acidity and a slight confit-like finish. Understated and refined, this will give two decades of drinking pleasure.

Drink 2022 - 2044

The 2018 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux Saint-Jacques is elegant and perfumed this year, bursting with aromas of peonies, orange rind, wild berries and cassis. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied and fine-boned, less lavishly textural and more introverted than the Champeaux this year, structured around supple, powdery tannins and succulent acids.

Entirely destemmed in contrast to the Arnaud Mortet label of Lavaux. 70% new wood. A lively glowing purple with a very exuberant nose. Perfume and some fresh oak, typical of the cooler sites which really thrive in 2018. Perfect fruit weight behind, deep red raspberry with a long sweet follow-through.