Clos de Tart, Clos de Tart Grand Cru 2012

The final blend made by Sylvain Pitiot has a gorgeous, mineral-soaked bouquet with dark cherries, blackcurrant, sea cave and sous-bois that unfolds in the glass. There is a crystalline beauty to this bouquet; you enter it, it does not enter you. The palate is medium-bodied with fleshy ripe tannins, very good mineralite and acidity, superb tension courtesy of the tensile, almost steely tannins and it builds towards a very focused sorbet-fresh finish with a long stony aftertaste. This will require several years in bottle: a bona fide vin de garde that will age effortlessly over 20 years, doubtless revealing hidden facets along the way.