Beaune Greves L’Enfant Jesus, Bouchard 2018 (OCC 6)

Description

By Neal Martin of Vinous in 2020 (NM92-94)

The 2018 Beaune Les Grèves Vigne de L’Enfant Jesus 1er Cru, from the 3.9-hectare monopole in Grèves, has a lovely, floral, very pure bouquet that frankly puts Bouchard’s other Beaune Premier Crus in their place. The medium-bodied palate delivers supple tannin, fine acidity and pure black cherry and blueberry fruit with wonderful details on the finish. This is very classy and punches with many more expensive Premier Crus in the Côte de Nuits.

By James Suckling in 2020 (JS94)

A rich, creamy-textured red with ripe-strawberry, chocolate, stone and hazelnut aromas and flavors. It’s full and layered with attractive fruit and lightly chewy yet polished tannins. Flavorful finish. Subtle, yet structured. Try after 2022.

By Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate in 2020 (RP93)

Revisited from bottle, the 2018 Beaune 1er Cru Les Grèves Vigne de l’Enfant Jesus is showing very well, unfurling in the glass with a brooding bouquet of dark berry fruit, ripe cherries, warm spices, baking chocolate and subtle soil tones. Medium to full-bodied, deep and muscular, it’s rich and powerful, with ripe tannins and a voluminous core of fruit, concluding with a long, heady finish. When I tasted this wine from barrel, Bouchard’s Frédéric Weber observed that analytically this 2018 is very similar indeed to the 1947 vintage of l’Enfant Jesus, and in its controlled but overt ripeness the analogy seems even more obvious from bottle.