Moderate wood frames very ripe liqueur-like aromas of plum, cassis, floral and ample spice and earth nuances. There is excellent richness to the opulent yet relatively refined big-bodied flavors that exhibit a subtle minerality on the powerful, mouth coating and driving finish that possesses outstanding complexity and persistence. There is a hint of warmth but overall this is quite well-balanced and the length is remarkable. My sense is that while this will age effortlessly for decades, it should not be particularly difficult young.

Score: 94 Allen Meadow (AM), Bourghound (BH), January 2018

(13.6% alcohol; from a crop level of just 22 hectoliters per hectare): Deep, bright red with ruby tones. Deeper and darker on the nose than the young 2016, offering hints of black raspberry, medicinal cherry, mocha and crushed rock; seems already to be closing down. Plump and thick in the style of the year; superripe but not at all cooked. The chewy flavors of dark fruits, stone, mocha and brown spices convey strong mineral-driven energy for the vintage, as well as the sheer dry extract to support the wine´s serious tannic clout. This hugely concentrated wine spreads out horizontally to saturate the palate on the powerful, slowly mounting finish, which leaves behind an impression of medicinal reserve. Winemaker Devauges is not convinced that this wine will shut down in bottle "because of the quality of the grapes and the tannins," but I think it´s inevitable. He vinified with an average of 40% whole clusters in 2015 and did just three punchdowns during the course of three weeks of maceration. By the way, this wine has a slightly lower pH than the 2016: 3.6, vs. 3.7.

Score: 95+ Stephen Tanzer (ST), Vinous Media (VM), January 2018

The 2015 Clos de Tart Grand Cru has a very intense, almost precocious bouquet of perfumed black cherry, boysenberry, pencil box and cold black tea, all beautifully defined. A subtle rusty tincture surfaces with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with rounded, supple tannin, an equal o!ering of red and black fruit laced with graphite, and almost Bordeaux "Graves" notes toward the beautifully focused, sustained finish. It ameliorates considerably in the glass, cajoling me to up my score. Tasted blind at the annual Burgfest tasting.

Score: 96+ Neal Martin (NM), Vinous Media (VM), November 2018

The 2015 Clos de Tart Grand Cru is a monumental young wine, opening in the glass with a brooding bouquet of wild berries, peony, orange rind, licorice, espresso roast and spice. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, powerful and multidimensional, with an enormous core of vibrant fruit, an ample chassis of fine tannins and a beautiful line of acidity. While the vintage has brought an extra dimension of concentration and power to this Clos de Tart, it remains wonderfully controlled through the long, palate-staining finish, and the terroir—including its proximity to Bonnes Mares—is front and center. With his first solo vintage at Clos de Tart, Jacques Desvauges has evidently hit the ground running. Cropped at 22 hectoliters per hectare, vinified with 40% whole cluster, and aged in 80% new wood.

Recapitulating the 2015 vintage while we tasted its fruits, Jacques Desvauges reflected on a frustratingly small crop, whereby the work of an even and propitious flowering period had been partially undone by a hot spell in June that stressed the vines, prompting them to drop some of their berries. Fifty-five millimeters of rain in August, in Desvauges´ analysis, is what differentiates 2015 from 2005, with the additional hydration facilitating a more complete phenolic maturity. After an early harvest, the various lots were fermented with an average of 40% whole clusters before maturation in 80% new wood. This represents a triad of subtle but judicious departures from Pitiot-era practices at this address that bear fruit in a wine that, to my palate, possesses more evident "soul" and site character than anything preceding it this millennium.

Score: 97 William Kelley (WK), The Wine Advocate (WA), April 2018