2023 Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru, Domaine des Lambrays

The steep Clos sits confidently yet humbly between Clos St Denis and Clos de Tart on the slope rising up behind the village. Harvested carefully over five days, this substantial wine recorded 13.8 degrees on the alcohol front, yet, despite its clear concentration and intensity, it retains a remarkable delicatesse that I would not have thought possible, were it not for that experience of drinking a number of vintages from between the two world wars. Its inherent fragrant prettiness is so charming and winsome. Its undoubted concentration is expressed through complexity and length, rather than power and presence, and the balance is cohesive and sublime. It is perhaps a shade more approachable at this stage of its life than the ’22, but in part that feels due to its great balance and proportion. Another stunner from Jacques, who has top and tailed this range of stunning reds with two absolute classics in the making. Drink from 2034