Domaine Armand Rousseau’s 2019 Chambertin Grand Cru is a benchmark Pinot Noir from Gevrey-Chambertin, made from the Chambertin climat where Rousseau is the largest landholder (2.56 hectares). In a hot, dry 2019 season that delivered naturally concentrated Burgundy reds, this wine has been received as a long-term, cellar-driven Chambertin that combines scale with structure.
The headline review is Decanter’s outstanding 99-point score, calling it “the reference standard in Chambertin” and noting it is “every bit the equal of the Clos de Bèze, if slightly less approachable young.” Decanter reports the wine is “blended from four parcels,” including cooler and higher-slope sections, and describes “incredible concentration… a strong mineral/saline edge and a gamey note,” with a “firm and tightly wound” texture. Their suggested drinking window (2029–2069) underscores the wine’s intended arc.
Burghound is similarly emphatic at 98 points, highlighting a “ripe yet cool nose” of “spice, earth and floral elements” alongside “dark berries and poached plum.” On the palate, Burghound finds “excellent intensity” and “mineral-inflected flavors,” finishing “beautifully balanced and imposingly powerful,” concluding that this is “strikingly pure… already Zen-like in its sense of harmony.”
Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate rates it 96–98 points and emphasizes its early reserve: “the most introverted, tightly wound wine in the cellar,” yet also “broad-shouldered and elegantly muscular,” with notes ranging from “exotic spices” and “grilled meats” to cherries, cassis, licorice and “loamy soil,” ending on a “penetrating finish.”
More cautious notes come from later tastings. Vinous (95) finds “some reduction on the nose” and calls it “extravagant… in the making,” with “plush tannins,” sour cherry and black pepper, though “jury is out… for now.” Jasper Morris (95) also reads it as “adolescent awkwardness,” despite “massive intensity” of deep red berry fruit. Taken together, the consensus is a powerful, tightly coiled Chambertin built for patient aging, with its best clarity and harmony expected with time.
