This magnificent wine has a dark ruby hue, with effusive ripe plummy fruit, a pronounced earthy edge, and notes of liquorice and pepper. The texture is dense and firm, yet there is an elegance that makes the wine feel approachable. The depth of flavour here suggests ageing for at least five years before enjoying it since there is a lot of tightly wound complexity here. The grapes come from the 2.2-hectare parcel on the edge of the cooling influence of the combe that delivery a silky wine of great finesse and purity.

(92-95 points) Here too the elegant nose is cool, pure and reserved with its pretty and layered array of various red berries, plum, violet and soft earth hints. The delicious middleweight flavors possess outstanding delineation and the same pungent minerality that adds a sense of energy and relief to the superbly long if youthfully austere finale that isn't quite as structured. This is also excellent and should age accordingly.

Magenta in colour. This appears robust more than fine, at first. Solid, workmanlike fruit, the oak makes up part of the structure. Dark raspberry fruit through the middle, and quite persistent. There is a touch of menthol at the finish perhaps from the barrel. Slowly the class starts to develop to reveal a much more interesting wine, ready to challenge the early leaders.

The Clos St. Jacques from Domaine Rousseau is aged in more new oak than the Ruchottes and it shows this new oaky influence in a very attractive manner in 2021. The bouquet delivers a complex and very classy blend of red and black cherries, grilled meats, raw cocoa, a lovely base of soil, delicate spice tones, cedary new oak and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and elegant, with a lovely core of pure fruit, excellent transparency, suave tannins and a long, complex and perfectly balanced finish.

(92-94 points) The 2021 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos Saint-Jacques delivers aromas of cassis, sweet berries, spices and soil, framed by a creamy patina of new oak. Medium to full-bodied, supple and concentrated, it's layered and seamless, with a fleshy, sensual profile and an expansive finish.

The 2021 Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Saint-Jacques 1er Cru has the most fruit-forward bouquet with gushing redcurrant, raspberry and wild strawberry scents that demand attention. Then there are scents of lavender and rosemary. The palate is medium-bodied with svelte tannins and well-judged acidity, the lushest of the Clos Saint-Jacques yet with wonderful purity and structure. Utterly seductive, and it has the substance to age well in bottle. Tasted blind at the Burgfest tasting. -- Neal Martin