2018 Olivier Bernstein Grand Cru Assorted 7-pack

100pts Jeb Dunnuck Last of the 2018s and from a 13.5-hectare site of rocky, limestone soils, the 2018 Chambertin Grand Cru comes from 65-year-old vines and was partially destemmed and brought up, I believe, in mostly new French oak. A magical, heavenly Red Burgundy, it tops out this reviewer’s scale. Possessing a vivid, almost opaque ruby color, it displays a more masculine, medium to full-bodied, layered style that carries classic notes of ripe dark berry fruits, scorched earth, gunpowder, black tea, and forest floor. Concentrated, powerful, and structured on the palate, it has a deep, layered mid-palate, building tannins, and a remarkable sense of purity and precision. It’s mostly educational at this point and deserves 5-7 years of bottle age, but this is insanely good. I suspect it will have 2-3 decades of overall longevity.

97pts Wine Spectator  

98pts Jeb Dunnuck The 2018 Chambertin Clos-De-Beze Grand Cru is another wine offering incredible aromatics, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint on the palate. Red and black fruits, sappy herbs, flowers, chalky minerality, and background oak all show, and it’s medium-bodied and seamless on the palate, with tons of structure and sappiness, ripe yet building tannins, incredible balance, and a great, great finish. I finished my note on this beauty with “stunning.” Give bottles 4-5 years, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following two decades. It should be pretty much pure perfection at maturity.

 

97pts Jeb Dunnuck The 2018 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru comes from a vineyard just north of Chambolle-Musigny (the vineyard lies mostly within Chambolle-Musigny with a small part in Morey-Saint-Denis), and it saw a similar vinification and élevage, with partial destemming and a mix of new and used oak. It has an incredibly complex nose that’s loaded with red and black fruits, spice, loamy earth, and spring flower nuances. These all carry to a medium-bodied, vibrant, and ultra-pure 2018 with fine, building tannins as well as terrific balance. While it’s complex and layered aromatically, it needs 3-5 years of bottle age for the palate to flesh out and should pretty much blow you away any time over the following 20 years or more. 

94pts Wine Spectator 

 

97pts Jeb Dunnuck The 2018 Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru is another structured, powerful wine that deserves cellaring. Some obvious stem notes as well as vibrant black fruits, black tea, and incredible minerality define the nose, and this puppy hits the palate with a firm, focused, concentrated style that brings lots of tannins and structure yet enough concentration and mid-palate depth to keep it balanced. It fleshes out nicely with time in the glass, and I love its mid-palate as well as its texture. This has everything, yet like the other 2018s here, the cellar is going to be your friend.

95pts Wine Spectator  

95pts Jeb Dunnuck The 2018 Clos De La Roche Grand Cru hails from a tiny 0.4 hectare in this great vineyard in the northern part of Morey St. Denis. It has a broader, more open style as well as medium to full-bodied aromas and flavors of ripe red and black fruits, some spicy background oak, a beautiful mid-palate, and ripe, velvety yet still present tannins. This deep, layered, incredibly impressive beauty is already hard to resist yet will certainly benefit from a few years in the cellar. I love its core of sweet fruit as well as its texture.

95pts Wine Spectator 

96+pts Jeb Dunnuck An age-worthy beauty, the 2018 Clos De Vougeot Grand Cru, from the largest Grand Cru in the Côte de Nuits, was harvested from 80-year-old vines and saw a touch of whole clusters as well as a mix of new and used French oak. It has a tight, closed, reductive – yet promising – bouquet of ripe black fruits, lit gunpowder, and spice, with an incredible sense of minerality. The palate mirrors the nose and is tight and compact, with a powerful style as well as ripe tannins, flawless balance, and a great finish. It needs to be forgotten for at least 4-5 years and will have 20+ of prime drinking.

96pts Jeb Dunnuck Seeing lots of stems (80%) and plenty of new wood (although you wouldn’t know it by tasting it), the 2018 Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru comes from a larger vineyard just south of the village of Gevrey-Chambertin. It has a terrific core of red and black fruits as well as candied flowers and spicy nuances. It’s beautiful on the palate as well and is medium-bodied, has incredible tannins, flawlessly integrated oak, and a great, great finish. It plays in the more elegant, graceful end of the spectrum but has intensity as well as length. It’s another gorgeous wine from this winemaker.