Clos de la Roche, Domaine Armand Rousseau 2012

**Note: from a 1.48 ha holding, 1 ha of which is in Les Fremières and the rest in Clos de la Roche proper**
A broad-ranging nose features aromas of humus, violet, plum, dark raspberry and again plenty of earth influence. This is also tautly muscular with plenty of size, weight and power yet the mouth feel is, at least at present, still relatively tender and caressing, all wrapped in a palate coating, long and balanced finish. There is excellent phenolic maturity to the supporting structural elements and this should amply repay 12 to 15 years of cellaring.

For the first time a little new oak (10%) has been used on the 2012 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru, where part of the vineyard was replanted five years ago. The fruit here is a little blacker than the Mazis-Chambertin tasted prior, that new oak ""plugging"" the gaps that might have been there without the new wood. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins on the entry. There is a citric core of fruit here, touches of marmalade infusing the black and red fruit on the linear, mineral finish. This should age very well - a Clos de la Roche with substance and presence.