Domaine Faiveley Corton Grand Cru Clos des Cortons 2018

Domaine Faiveley Corton Grand Cru Clos des Cortons 2018Moderate wood and menthol influences frame the intensely earthy and gamy aromas of both red and dark currant. There is excellent energy to the stony medium weight plus flavors that are at once succulent yet powerful where the latter carries over to the serious, firmly structured and mildly warm finish that goes on and on. This somewhat rustic effort is very Corton in basic character and a wine that's going to require patience.

It has moderate alcohol

with peppery

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Helms Vineyard

A more deeply pitched nose combines notes of dark currant

) This wine is tight and compact

Once again moderately prominent wood still allows the overtly spicy and floral-inflected dark currant

The 2015 vintage is particularly fruity

orange pekoe tea and plenty of earth

Two wines that I did not see from bottle have turned out to be close to perfection

This promising effort appears to have more than enough density to eventually absorb the wood treatment

this is profoundly great Syrah

There is a really lovely sense of underlying tension suffusing the much more mineral-driven middle weight flavors that are not quite as rich but notably more precise on the chiseled and wonderfully refined finish