Clos de Tart : Clos de Tart Grand cru Monopole 2018

The 2018 Clos de Tart demonstrates the superior nature of great terroir and mature vines. This is still a big year with very ripe fruit, but there is more elegance to the grand cru than La Forge de Tarte, the premier cru, and a sophistication that is lacking in the lesser wine. Ripe black cherry and plum fruit with a bit more oak, and some additional mineral nuance, lead gracefully to the powerful but fine-grained texture, impressive density and marvellously balanced finish. Although this does not have the elegance of 2019, it shows how great the ’18s can be with a sensitive hand.

55% whole bunch. Cask sample. Very dark crimson. Not the freshest nose – perhaps because of the slightly elevated serving temperature? But majestic in terms of build and really complex with an array of wild flowers on the nose (a biodynamic effect?). Really pretty smart! There’s a glamour and density here as well as sweetness, digestive biscuits and orange liqueur. Exciting wine. (JR)

The 2018 Clos de Tart Grand Cru was wonderful from barrel, but now it seems to have gone up another level. It has an exquisite bouquet with lovely minerality infusing the brambly red fruit. Wonderful focus and quite profound complexity. You could nose this forever. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiselled tannins married to a killer line of natural acidity. Everything is perfectly proportioned in this wine, very persistent, with layers of dark berry fruit laced with white pepper and tea leaf on the finish. Immense. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 red tasting.

Creamy, deep and polished texture in this rounded, enveloping wine, with a very liquorice-driven finish. The sappy tannic framework and mineral brightness provide energy and a certain sapidity, but it is compact and built for ageing.

A sparkling, captivating, playful nose—very elegant and fresh, with charming fruit. Plenty of grace and presence on the palate, with lovely concentration and perfect acidity, blue-black fruit intensity, and finely toned tannins. A very long finish.

The 2018 Clos de Tart Grand Cru opens in the glass with rich aromas of raspberries, plum preserve, ripe berries, warm spices and rose petals, framed by a generous touch of creamy new oak. Full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's rich, muscular and extracted, with a brooding, introverted profile that will require—and, one hopes, reward—patience. As I wrote last year, this is a powerful, broad-shouldered Clos de Tart that has more in common with the wines of the Pitiot era than it does with what the domaine produced in 2015, 2016, 2017 or 2019.