2016 MERCUREY CHAMPS MARTIN RöD LORENZON, 75 cl

Bottled only one month before I tasted it in late May, the 2016 Mercurey 1er Cru Champs Martin is excellent, wafting from the glass with a pure bouquet of sweet cherries, cassis and wild berries, with little hint of the savory nuance to come. On the palate, it's full-bodied, layered and chalky, with a deep core of sappy fruit, rich but controlled in profile. It's a superb bottle of Mercurey. WA 92 ”Lorenzon's wines are expensive, and he isn't afraid to express voluble pride in his achievements, but there's simply no arguing with quality in the bottle: his reds, much improved in recent years, have few rivals in Mercurey, and his whites none. Purity, delineation and concentration are the watchwords here, and the vines are trained higher than his neighbors' and farmed organically-very rare in this appellation. I can only concur with the high esteem in which Lorenzon's wines are held by the French wine press and warmly encourage readers to try them. 2016 is a strong vintage at this address, classic in the best sense, and the wines are attractively effortless. WA”