Reviews & Scores
Aromatic, offering hints of lavender, menthol and orange peel, but on the palate this becomes an immutable block, with a kernel of cherry, black currant, licorice and mineral flavors locked within. The tannins have the upper hand now, but this should develop well.
WS96February 2018
(produced from two large parcels of differing vine age - one that is approximately two-thirds of the blend and is now 50+ years of age and a second, smaller group of vines that is approximately 25+ years of age; made with 100% whole cluster). Here too the nose is quite ripe yet very fresh with its layered array of spicy and markedly floral-inflected black cherry and plum scents that are trimmed in both discreet wood and menthol nuances. There is impressive size, weight and power to the more mineral-driven and refined medium-bodied flavors that are shaped by a distinctly firm tannic spine on the wonderfully persistent and mildly austere finale. This is first-rate and one serious wine in 2015 and thus be prepared to allow it at least 10 to 12 years first. 2027+
BH94January 2018
The 2015 Clos des Lambrays includes ninety-five percent whole clusters this year and is a stunning wine in the making. The bouquet is deep, pure and very expressive out of the blocks, soaring from the glass in a blaze of black plums, sweet cassis, espresso, woodsmoke, gamebird, raw cocoa, a great base of dark soil tones and a nice framing of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and rock solid at the core, with laser-like focus, great balance and grip and a very long, fine-grained and vibrant finish. This will take at least a decade to blossom, but it will be a great wine in the fullness of time. 2025-2075+.
JG96January 2017
(made with 95% whole clusters; Brouin destemmed 5% of the fruit owing to the thick skins of '15): Healthy dark red. Subdued but complex, sexy scents of raspberry, mocha, brown spices and earth: a real essence of this distinctive grand cru. Sappy and wild, conveying terrific intensity and precision to its red berry and spice flavors. Tactile, savory, dense and very long, finishing with lovely energy and peppery lift and a lingering element of salty minerality. Beautifully integrated ripe tannins suggest that this will be an outstanding and long-lived vintage for Clos des Lambrays. The pH here is 3.6, which Brouin described as normal. Brouin added that potential alcohol levels following the sorting were around 12.5% in 2015, and that the finished wines will be between 13% and 13.2%.
VM95January 2017
The 2015 Clos de Lambrays Grand Cru contains 95% whole cluster fruit, part of the crop with thicker skins deprived of their stems according to winemaker Thierry Brouin. It is being aged in 50% new oak. It has dusky black fruit on the nose, earthier than I was expecting given the growing season, the stem addition lending a subtle undergrowth and moss-like scent. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin and offers succinctly judged acidity. It is certainly harmonious in the mouth with a generous dash of black pepper on the finish, a pleasant prickle in the mouth after the wine has departed. Whilst not the purring engine that is Clos de Tart since it is more rough-hewn perhaps, this Clos des Lambrays has a charm of its own.
WA95December 2016