Faiveley Chambertin "Clos de Beze" Grand Cru

Since the 1930's, the family has owned the largest amount of land in this appellation. Domaine Faiveley own 3 parcels: "Grands Rangs", "Clos de Bèze Haut" and "Vieilles Vignes". Clos de Bèze is the most complex wine from Faiveley's range and evolves beautifully over time to reveal its true potential.

Winemaker notes

Intense ruby red hue and complex nose offering fruity and roasted notes. The palate is powerful, elegant and distinctive with smooth yet direct tannins and a remarkably long and elegant finish.

2017

Burghound 93-95: An exuberantly spicy and attractively fresh nose offers up notes of red currant, essence of plum and ample floral influences, all of which is surrounded by much more subtle wood influence. The refined and pure middle weight flavors possess excellent delineation and verve while delivering very fine complexity and persistence on the youthfully austere finish. Like many of the wines in the range, this is not especially dense but it is beautifully harmonious and well-balanced plus the dense but fine tannins should assure a long life.

James Suckling 97: Deep, dark and mysterious, rich and velvety, this is another amazing 2017 Grand Cru from Faiveley. The enormous power is tucked away in the background, so that you barely notice it. Wonderful minerality, married to caressing texture on the palate. Iron in the soul!

Vinous 94: The 2017 Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru has a wonderful nose of pure dark berry fruit, crushed stone, and touches of undergrowth and tobacco. This seems to grow in the glass. The palate is ripe and slightly pinched on the entry, a touch of soy infusing the red berry fruit. Structured on the finish but it feels just a little angular at the moment. Give it time to smooth out its creases.

2018

Burghound 93-96: An even spicier and wonderfully expansive nose reflects notes of anise, clove, lavender and violet that suffuse the red and dark pinot fruit scents. The mouthfeel of the big-bodied flavors possess a lovely sense of underlying tension along with good detail and a subtle minerality on the equally firm but somewhat less austere finale. This is slightly more complete and a wine of class and grace though make no mistake, if you wish to see it at its peak, a good deal of patience is advised.

Wine Advocate 94-96: The 2018 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru soars from the glass with a rich bouquet of cassis, dark berries, baking chocolate, woodsmoke, loamy soil, licorice and grilled game. On the palate, it's full-bodied, rich and concentrated, with terrific energy and structural refinement despite the wine's texture and volume and a long, saline finish.

Vinous 94: The 2018 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Grand Cru is the most opulent of the four tasted from this vineyard, ravishing dark cherries, raspberry and cranberry scents, touches of tobacco and humidor. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins, real structure and density, still quite oaky with a creamy texture though that will be subsumed with time. A serious Grand Cru that will demand several years in bottle, but mercurial and just losing some of its initial finesse with aeration.

Decanter 97: My pick of the Faiveley Grand Cru bottlings in 2018, although several other wines run it close, this is plush and textured but has more refined than the same producer's Mazis-Chambertin. Two old-vine parcels have produced a wine that has coped effortlessly with the elements, marrying floral perfume with layers of red and black fruits and effortless concentration. The 50% new wood embellishes rather than dominates the finish.

2019

Burghound 93-96: A mildly toasty and mentholated nose offers up a wonderful array of spice elements on the notably floral red berry fruit and earth-inflected aromas. The sleek and satin-textured big-bodied flavors possess a highly sophisticated mouthfeel that exudes evident minerality on the youthfully austere and terrifically persistent finish. A brief summation would be cool and very classy.

Wine Advocate 94-96: Aromas of cassis, plums, orange oil, smoked meats, loamy soil and black truffle preface Faiveley's 2019 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru, a full-bodied, velvety and sumptuous wine that's elegantly textural and fleshy, with its broad-shouldered chassis of tannin cloaked in an ample core of succulent fruit. Long and complete, it's a terrific Clos de Bèze in the making.

Vinous 96: The 2019 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Grand Cru has immense fruit concentration on the nose, displaying ample dark plum and wild strawberry, earthenware and sous-bois aromas. This is complex and engaging, yet at the same time, unapologetically backward. The palate is medium-bodied, with a dash of black pepper on the entry. This is an intense, all-guns-a-blazing Clos-de-Bèze and it pulls it off with some style, though it does become more refined with time in the glass. How much time are you prepared to wait for your wine to reach its peak? This is seriously long-term.

Decanter 97: This is produced from three of the four Faiveley parcels in the Clos de Bèze. After a fermentation largely with whole clusters and ageing in cask (70% new), the wine is deeply aromatic, showing an array of aromas that range from ripe cassis and plum fruit, to savoury and smoky notes with a mineral/saline edge. The texture of the wine is tannic, massively concentrated and firm, yet not unyielding. Superb.

2020

Burghound 93-96: Noticeable wood is present on the super-spicy and floral nose of layered red and blue pinot fruit aromas. The mouthfeel of the large-scaled flavors is positively gorgeous with excellent richness, indeed opulence, that contrasts with the youthfully austere, complex and hugely long finish where a touch of warmth slowly emerges. This is also seriously impressive.

Wine Advocate 95-97: The 2020 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru is brilliant, unwinding in the glass with aromas of wild berries and cherries mingled with dark chocolate, sweet spices, peonies and grilled squab. Full-bodied, layered and velvety, it's concentrated and multidimensional, with a dramatically textural, perfumed palate and a long, saline finish.

Vinous 95-97: The 2020 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Grand Cru has a very delineated, quite floral bouquet with rose petal infusing the mixture of red and black fruit. There is a touch of sous-bois that become accentuated with time. The palate is fleshy and almost confit-like on the entry, but the acidity keeps this on an even keel. Plush, luxuriant...almost sexy (I dislike the word apropos Burgundy) but there is something very sensual about this wine. Very long in terms of length. Superb.

Decanter 98: This is a tremendous wine, with a ripe, spicy plum and blackberry fruit, touched with notes of mineral and earth. The complexity and depth of flavour only continue to open on the palate which is structured yet approachable, very elegant and round. A delight. This is produced from nearly one hectare of vines in three parcels that they refer to as 'Grands Rangs', 'Clos de Bèze Haut' and 'Vieilles Vignes'. The wine is fermented with a large proportion of whole clusters and is aged in two-thirds new casks.

Wine Spectator 98: A majestic red, serene and refined, displaying cherry, strawberry, dried rose, sandalwood, licorice and iron aromas and flavors. Firms up, turning denser as this builds to the finish, all the while remaining balanced, poised and complex through the lingering aftertaste of fruit, spices and mineral. Ethereal. Best from 2027 through 2047. From France.

2021

Burghound 91-94: A touch of green tea character sits atop the aromas of plum, cherry and more prominent sauvage nuances. There is a really lovely mouthfeel to the suave, round and powerful medium-bodied flavors that also display evident minerality on the slightly more complex but noticeably more persistent finale. At least some patience will be necessary as this is quite tightly wound.

Wine Advocate 93-95: The 2021 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru is beautiful, wafting from the glass with aromas of sweet red berries, orange zest, Asian spices, rose petals and sweet forest floor. Full-bodied, ample and fleshy, it's layered, concentrated and complete, uniting the sensual aromatics and textures of Faiveley's Latricières with all the musculature and more of their Mazis to compelling effect.

Vinous 92-94: The 2021 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Grand Cru bides its time opening up, revealing raspberry and cranberry fruit, autumn leaves, touches of orange pith. Cohesive and focused, it gains vigour in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins, brown spices and white pepper that are liberally sprinkled over the finish that has a very small attenuation. But this is still well-crafted.

Decanter 93: The Faiveley holdings in the Clos de Bèze are lovely. The 'classique' and the Bèze super-cuvée Les Ouvrées Rodin are usually among my favorite wines from this house. 2021 is no exception. It combines the solid, somewhat chunky density of the Latricières and the sensual charm and exuberance of the Charmes. The grapes come from three of the four Faiveley domaine parcels, all located in the heart of the Clos de Bèze.

Wine Spectator 96: Luscious and expressive, this red exudes cherry, spiced plum, boysenberry, licorice, sandalwood and vanilla aromas and flavors, with a firm base of acidity and tannins lending support. Though balanced, this needs time for its initial attack and finish to integrate.

2022

Wine Advocate 94-96: The 2022 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru is brilliant, bursting with aromas of sweet wild berries and cherries mingled with notions of peonies, vine smoke and incense. Full-bodied, layered and unctuous, with a thick but lively core of fruit framed by rich, powdery tannins, it concludes with a broad, saline finish.

James Suckling 97-98: A bit embryonic, but already deep with fine red berry aromas. In spite of the ample structure this moves gracefully over the palate. Then the turbo kicks in at the finish and races this off into the distance!