2010 Domaine Taupenot Merme Mazoyeres-Chambertin Grand Cru

The 2010 Mazoyères-Chambertin from Domaine Taupenot-Merme is also outstanding, offering up a very deep and refined bouquet (particularly for young Mazoyères) of sweet dark berries, grilled meat, a touch of eucalyptus, espresso, currant leaf, woodsmoke and a gentle base of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, pure and quite reserved, with a rock solid core of fruit, excellent focus and balance, ripe tannins and outstanding length and grip on the poised and still quite primary finish. One can easily appreciate how different the personalities are of this and the Charmes, and it is quite sensible to not blend the two wines. A dynamite, young Mazoyères-Chambertin.

Deft wood frames a nose that is reasonably similar to that of the Charmes but here there is a more obvious sauvage character and no herbal nuances. This is also impressively broad-scaled with an overt muscularity to the almost painfully intense flavors, yet somewhat surprisingly, they are no more structured which is not typically the case. The underlying sense of tension is palpable and this exceptionally powerful wine culminates in a palate saturating finish of genuinely wonderful length and only moderate austerity. In sum, this is a more dramatic wine than the Charmes but even so, it's not clear which one time will favor. If you can find them and have the patience, I would suggest buying both as they should be excellent in due time.