Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron Clos Vougeot Grand Cru 2023 (750ml) *

Grand Cru Pinot Noir from the walled Clos de Vougeot, one of Burgundy's largest single vineyards for the tier, this 2023 comes from Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron. It's a red Burgundy in the fuller register, ripe and generous in a vintage that leaned toward warmth, and it carries the density you expect from a grand cru site without abandoning the perfume that defines the grape.

The nose is deep and clearly drawn, blackberry edged with licorice and brown baking spice, a whisper of leather sitting underneath. Medium-bodied, it enters ripe on the palate, pushing right up to the fuller edge of the style, and closes long on licorice and cracked black pepper. A touch more of the bright red fruit that marks classic Pinot Noir would round the picture, but there's real intensity and drive here.