95+ The 2012 Latricières-Chambertin from Domaine Rossignol-Trapet is a breathtakingly beautiful example of the vintage, offering up a very deep and reserved nose of black cherries, black plums, gamebirds, a very, very complex base of dark soil tones, French roast and a discreet framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and rock solid at the core, with a superb synthesis of sappy fruit and striking minerality, very suave, ripe tannins and a very, very long, tangy and soil-driven finish. Latricières-Chambertin is probably one of the most underrated grand crus in all of Burgundy, but this legend in the making is going to make people sit up and take notice of this magical terroir!

Wisps of floral character in the form of rose petal and violets add a touch of elegance to the more deeply pitched dark currant, earth a slightly sauvage suffused nose. There is excellent intensity to the pungently mineral-driven medium weight plus sized flavors that exhibit a sleek muscularity before culminating in a beautifully well-balanced if mildly austere finish that is shaped by fine-grained tannins. This should be excellent in time.

Tasted blind at the annual "Burgfest" tasting in Beaune. The 2012 Latricières Chambertin Grand Cru from Domaine Rossignol-Trapet does not quite have the panache or the vigour of J-L Trapet's Latricières 2012 on the nose, partly because of some reduction. This is much more introverted. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly sinewy tannins that clearly need two or three years to soften. But there is good matière on the finish, even if it has not nurtured commensurate finesse. - Neal Martin