96

Neal Martin

Vinous

The 2019 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Grand Cru is already showing a little maturity on the nose. It has a perfumed bouquet with red cherries and crushed strawberry fruit, damp moss and a touch of oyster shell. It coheres in the glass and gains in terms of complexity. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, perfectly judged acidity, vivacious red fruit and a slightly viscous texture. Concentrated but not overpowering, this retains wonderful focus and lingers temptingly on the aftertaste. Tasted blind at the Burgfest tasting. 09/2023

96

Jasper Morris

Inside Burgundy

The redder side of crimson. A slightly smudged bouquet seems indicative of stems (but probably not for this cuvée chez Faiveley). Softly oaky behind, the ripeness is at maximum, but as with the Musigny flight, the finish gives hope for the future, leaving a fresher feel behind. It is actually pretty lovely wine, the charm of the fruit being deceptive in that it hides the latent intensity. Drink from 2028-2038. Tasted Sep 2023.

94-96

William Kelley

Robert Parker/Wine Advocate

Aromas of cassis, plums, orange oil, smoked meats, loamy soil and black truffle preface Faiveley's 2019 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru, a full-bodied, velvety and sumptuous wine that's elegantly textural and fleshy, with its broad-shouldered chassis of tannin cloaked in an ample core of succulent fruit. Long and complete, it's a terrific Clos de Bèze in the making. Jérôme Flous told me that Faiveley began picking on September 9, finishing by the 20th, and that yields averaged out at around 35 hectoliters per hectare in white and a little less in red. Comparing the 2019 vintage to "a more concentrated version of 2010," he admires—as I do—its vibrant fruit tones and refined tannins, finding it more elegant than 2018. The quality of the red wines chez Faiveley is old news, and for more information on this firm's evolution I direct readers to my report published in the August 2020 Week 1 issue of The Wine Advocate. It's worth underlining, however, how good the whites are these days: Flous tells me that he now includes fûts from Damy and Chassin in the white wine barrel program, and in the last few vintages, I've found the wines' new oak component better and better integrated. 01/2021