The 2016 Richebourg Grand Cru has a very harmonious bouquet, a mixture of red and black fruit with hints of crushed violet and freshly shucked oyster shell, later a touch of flint. It is extremely well defined and focused, conveying the sense of aristocracy one seeks from a Richebourg. The palate is medium-bodied with filigreed tannin. There is real density and presence here and it is certainly more expressive than the Romanee-Saint-Vivant at the moment, with palpable tension on the finish. Outstanding.

Charles van Canneyt’s stunning 2016 Richebourg shares some sappy exoticism with the Clos Vougeot in the cellars this year, though it is a tad more reserved out of the blocks than the flamboyant Clos Vougeot at the present time. The bouquet is pure, sappy and stunningly transparent in personality, offering up a beautiful blend of red plums, black cherries, gamebird, nutskin, a gorgeous base of soil tones, raw cocoa and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very elegant in profile, with a superb core of pure fruit, lovely soil signature, suave, seamless tannins and a very, very long, complex and utterly refined finish. This is a great Richebourg in the making! 2030-2100.

This is a beauty in 2016, revealing a deep-pitched bouquet of wild berries, rich red and black fruit, asphalt, rich soil and spice. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, complete and multidimensional; broader and more textural than the Romanee-St-Vivant, with considerable power and authority, its tannins cloaked in ripe fruit. This is a superb Richebourg with a sense of reserve, despite its near-unctuousness, which indicates it will need longer in the cellar than the Romanee-St-Vivant.Drinking Window 2026 - 2045.

An ultra-spicy, ripe, elegant and admirably pure nose offers up notes of dark berries, sandalwood and tea along with plenty of floral influence. There is equally good breadth to the rich, intense and tension-filled full-bodied and stony flavors that possess excellent power and drive on the seductively textured, muscular and classy finish. In a word, impressive.

Bright ruby-red. More brooding on the nose than the Romanee-Saint-Vivant, conveying a medicinal cast to its aromas of dark berries, licorice pastille and violet. Boasts outstanding density and power but this penetrating wine shows a magically light touch and comes across as distinctly airy today. Not fleshy but delivers superb energy and cut. Quite different in style from the Romanee-Saint-Vivant but then these two grand crus typically go through phases during their elevage, so predicting their final shape and fruit/mineral balance is far more difficult than assessing their quality in the early going.