Domaine Faiveley Mazis Chambertin 2015

Faively's superb 2015 Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru opens in the glass with a brooding bouquet of dark wild berries, smoky plums, grilled meat, rose hip and burnt orange that has already entirely digested its new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, ample and rich, with a layered mid-palate and a serious chassis of fine-grained tannins largely hidden in a deep core of sappy fruit. The finish is long and savory. Cropped at a mere 20 hectoliters per hectare, this is one the highlights of the Faiveley range this year.

The 2015 Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru has an intense bouquet of precocious red fruit laced with pressed flowers, sage and subtle tobacco scents that gain more clarity as the wine opens in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied and slightly lactic on the entry, and the new oak is a little heavy in proportion to the fruit. This is a grand cru that could go either way; it needs to muster more finesse and charm with bottle age. At the moment, at least on the palate if not the nose, it feels a little introspective and brutish. Tasted blind at the annual Burgfest tasting.