(91-94) Subtle floral notes combine with ripe, earthy and brooding dark berry fruit aromas that are trimmed in just enough wood to notice. There is excellent density to the imposingly powerful and again tautly muscular big-bodied flavors that brim with tannin-buffering dry extract, all wrapped in a velvety, firm and austere finale. This moderately rustic and notably rich effort is clearly going to need a long snooze in a cool cellar so patience required.

Effusive cherry and blackberry fruit is shaded by equally stylish oak spice in this flashy, polished red. Silky yet structured, open yet holding plenty in reserve, this finds equilibrium on the long, fruit- and spice-inflected aftertaste. Best from 2019 through 2035. 175 cases made. — BS

Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2014 tasting, the 2014 Clos Vougeot Grand Cru from Olivier Bernstein has a lifted bouquet with raspberry coulis and strawberry scents and, unlike the example that turned out to be from Benjamin Leroux, here I find the oak more neatly integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red berry fruit, a fine line of acidity and a spicy finish that lingers in the mouth. It needs another 24 months to fully subsume the oak, but there is good potential. Tasted September 2017.- NM