BOURGOGNE ROUGE La Croix d'Argent Paul Gros 2022 vs CLOS SAINT DENIS Grand Cru Domaine Stéphane Magnien 2018

CLOS SAINT DENIS Grand Cru Domaine Stéphane Magnien 2018

The 2018 Clos Saint-Denis Grand Cru has quite an intense bouquet with red berry fruit, touches of blackcurrant, pain d'épice and sous-bois. This seems to grow and deepen in the glass, developing some unnecessary headiness and then, as if skulking from out of a darkened corner, noticeable and sadly compromising Brettanomyces. The palate is medium-bodied with quite thick and dense tannins. Backward and rather surly, this is a serious Clos Saint-Denis, more dark than light, with some dryness and austerity on the finish. Like reading Dostoevsky when you just want a simple page-turner. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 red tasting.