Beaune Clos des Ursules, Louis Jadot 2019

A breathtakingly deep and complex wine for Beaune, this is just beginning to reveal its treasures. So much ripeness and a certain degree of opulence, but this remains fine and poised. Very suave tannins on the concentrated and velvety palate and through the very long finish. Decades of aging potential. Drinkable now, but best from 2024.

Always one of the high points of the portfolio, the 2019 Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Ursules (Domaine des Héritiers Jadot) offers up aromas of berries and plums with hints of warm spices and orange rind, framed by a deft touch of new oak. Medium to full-bodied, round and fleshy, with elegantly muscular structuring tannins and lively acids, this will age with grace.

This is also markedly reserved and requires vigorous swirling to reveal its array of cool, pure and wonderfully complex red and dark berries, earth, spice and a pretty floral whiff. There is a positively gorgeous mouthfeel to the sleek but plush flavors that manage to retain very good definition on the dusty, serious and impressively persistent finale. This is already really lovely and potentially great.

A wonderful dry stone Cabotte has been built on the edge of the Clos des Ursules, competition for Andy Goldsworthy. Mid purple, spicy and ripe with a good density of fruit, but perhaps showing the heat a touch more. Then oaky and some firmer tannins. Not quite so harmonious today, but I bet it will become so. Tasted: October 2020