Vosne Romanée Les Beauxmonts, Domaine Georges Noellat 2016

The 2016 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts is showing well from bottle, unwinding in the glass to offer up a youthfully reserved bouquet of blackberries, cherries, plums, grilled game bird, rich soil and smoky new oak. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, rich and voluptuous, with a succulent core of fruit, vibrant fruit flavors and a fine-grained framing of structuring tannins. It's appreciably more reserved than earlier renditions of this cuvée, perhaps because Maxime Cheurlin now has an air-conditioned cellar and is maturing his wine for two winters in barrel. It will be interesting to follow its evolution over the coming decade.

Reduction. Interestingly, the palate impression of the medium weight flavors is even finer with terrific vibrancy and minerality where the intensity really builds from the mid-palate on back to the explosively long finish. This dusty effort is quite serious and will also need at least some bottle age before it could be reasonably approachable.