(95-98 points) Brilliant dense purple. Really a magical stylish bouquet, very pure. Then an incredible density of pure rich purple fruit which soars across the palate. Really beautifully balanced with complex fruit notes, I put the sweet cherries slightly in the lead. Good acidity too, everything is perfectly together. Note that Faiveley have decided not to show their Les Ouvrées Rodin for tasting at the En Primeur stage.

My pick of the Faiveley Grand Cru bottlings in 2018, although several other wines run it close, this is plush and textured but has more refined than the same producer's Mazis-Chambertin. Two old-vine parcels have produced a wine that has coped effortlessly with the elements, marrying floral perfume with layers of red and black fruits and effortless concentration. The 50% new wood embellishes rather than dominates the finish. (Drink between 2023-2033)

(93-96 points) An even spicier and wonderfully expansive nose reflects notes of anise, clove, lavender and violet that suffuse the red and dark pinot fruit scents. The mouthfeel of the big-bodied flavors possess a lovely sense of underlying tension along with good detail and a subtle minerality on the equally firm but somewhat less austere finale. This is slightly more complete and a wine of class and grace though make no mistake, if you wish to see it at its peak, a good deal of patience is advised.

(94-96 points) The 2018 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru soars from the glass with a rich bouquet of cassis, dark berries, baking chocolate, woodsmoke, loamy soil, licorice and grilled game. On the palate, it's full-bodied, rich and concentrated, with terrific energy and structural refinement despite the wine's texture and volume and a long, saline finish. This was an excellent tasting with Faiveley's technical director Jérôme Flous, who has handled the 2018 vintage very skillfully indeed. Flous told me that, in his opinion, wines with comparatively low acidity need compensatory tannin to age and to temper their sweetness of fruit. In that regard, he feels he did not extract sufficiently, so he took things a little further in 2018. I am happy to report that—even if extraction is something of a dirty word among the Burgundy commentariat—Flous struck a good balance, producing deep and complex wines with texture and structure, yes, but no asperity in the least. Elegant but age worthy, they exemplify Faiveley's contemporary style and come recommended. These wines were tasted from representative samples at Faiveley's Nuits-Saint-Georges facility. Readers looking for my notes on the 2017 Faiveley wines from bottle can find them in the End of November 2019 Issue of The Wine Advocate.

The 2018 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Grand Cru is the most opulent of the four tasted from this vineyard, ravishing dark cherries, raspberry and cranberry scents, touches of tobacco and humidor. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins, real structure and density, still quite oaky with a creamy texture though that will be subsumed with time. A serious Grand Cru that will demand several years in bottle, but mercurial and just losing some of its initial finesse with aeration. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 red tasting. -- Neal Martin