Domaine du Clos de Tart Grand Cru Monopole 2014

The 2014 Clos de Tart Grand Cru will contain 40% whole bunch fruit in the final. It was picked from September 17 until September 22. This blend that I tasted included the young vines at the bottom of the vineyard that may or may not be deselected to make a Forge de Tart (the decision will be made next year). It is also the first vintage that does not include old vines at the northwest corner that were pulled up in spring 2014, due to be replanted in four years' time. It has a very well defined bouquet with cranberry and wild strawberry fruit, fine mineral tones and is quite harmonious with hints of wet limestone. The palate is medium-bodied and I feel this has tightened up since I tasted it in September 2015. The fruit also seems a little darker. Blackberry and wild cherry, with a hint of cola and certainly more tangible mineralité on the finish, as you can feel the mouth tingling long after it has bid adieu.
Barrel Sample: 95-97

What we tasted was not a finished wine, but the ‘hypothetical blend’. Clear and light in colour, with cleanly defined, fresh yet sweet scents of raspberry. After that youthful sweetness, the incision of the palate was a shock: high-focus, pure, long and thrusting, and grippy towards the finish. Brilliantly sustained by its raspberry fruits, though; long and pure on the finish.
Barrel Sample: 93-95

A sensational 2014 by Sylvain Pitiot and Jacques Devauges, the 2014 Clos De Tart Grand Cru is an incredibly perfumed, elegant wine that shines for its complexity, texture, and length. Beautiful black raspberries, spice, damp underbrush, sous bois, and spice aromas and flavors all flow to a medium-bodied effort that has no hard edges, perfect balance, and polished, yet present tannin. With surprising length and building tannin, it needs 5-7 years of cellaring and is going to knock your socks off over the coming two decades.

There is whiff of new wood framing the intensely floral-suffused nose and in particular rose petal and lavender that add elegance to the fresh mix of mostly red and dark currant scents that are trimmed in discreet earth hints. There is a lovely sense of energy to the moderately dense middle weight plus flavors that culminate in a dusty, palate coating and beautifully long finish. This is already completely harmonious and should make for terrific drinking for years to come.