92+ The 2017 Gravains from Monsieur Camus was raised in fifty percent new oak this year, which is higher than normal for this bottling, but all of the new wood was the aforementioned five hundred liter barrels, so the impression of oakiness in the wine is as it always is with the smaller percentage of new 228 liter casks in past vintages. Guillaume noted this year that Gravains has a very strong vein of limestone in it and the soils are very similar to those in Corton-Charlemagne, which is the primary reason many vignerons with parcels here have them planted to chardonnay. The 2017 rouge from Guillaume is excellent, wafting from the glass in a fine blend of red and black cherries, pigeon, a complex base of chalky soil, woodsmoke, Savigny spice tones and a discreet framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and more reserved in profile than the old vine villages bottlings, with a lovely core of fruit, excellent backend mineral drive, ripe tannins and a long, tangy and nascently complex finish. This will be lovely.

A whiff of wood toast and menthol are present on the more complex and restrained aromas of red currant, plum, earth and pretty floral nuances. There is both an attractive vibrancy and good volume to the lightly stony medium weight flavors that exhibit good focus on the bitter cherry-inflected and youthfully austere finish. This is textbook Gravains.