Freshness and poise are often the hallmarks of Clos St-Denis, even in warmer vintages, and that's certainly the case here. Made with fruit from 1.45ha of the grand cru, it has 85% whole clusters and 70% new oak. The result is a wine of real verve and focus, showing engaging minerality and enticing perfume and length. (TA)

In many vintages, I have a slight preference stylistically for the Clos St. Denis from the Seysses family over their Clos de la Roche, though the wines are often absolute equals in terms of quality. However, in 2017, I have to give a very, very slight nod to the Clos de la Roche, as it seems to have really excelled in this vintage. This is not to say that the 2017 Clos St. Denis is not a stunning wine, as it most assuredly is, offering up a pure and complex nose of sappy red plums, beetroot, smoked duck, a complex base of chalky soil tones, lovely spice tones, a refined base of new oak and a topnote of cocoa powder. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and supremely elegant, with a sappy core of fruit, great soil undertow, suave tannins and a long, tangy and complex finish. A great wine in the making.

The 2017 Clos Saint-Denis Grand Cru is more expressive aromatically than the Clos de la Roche at the moment. The terroir is slightly better articulated, notes of crushed stone perfectly infusing the red berry fruit. The palate is precise and focused, almost symmetrical in style, and very expressive. The long, gorgeous, almost tart finish belies the structure of this Grand Cru. Superb.(NM)

Dense glowing red, with cinnamon spice on the nose along with deep juicy fruit. Sweet lifted dark red cherries, and rich peony notes, slightly bizarrely reminding me of the old-fashioned Indian restaurant flock wallpaper. Plenty of structure but it all works. Tasted Nov 2018.

A strikingly floral nose of mostly red berry fruit and spice elements is more elegant if, somewhat surprisingly as it's not usually the case, less complex though that may change as this ages. The palate impression of the middle weight flavors is unusually supple and a bit light though the supporting tannins cause the youthfully austere finish to tighten up. The 2017 CSD is even more a wine of finesse than it typically is.