The wine in this lot has a score of 96-98 from Robert Parker and the following tasting note -The 2016 Ruchottes-Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes Grand Cru, which Cyrille described as her “heart wine,” has a superb bouquet with ebullient dark cherries, bergamot, blackberry and briary, wonderful delineation and demonstrating more exuberance than Mugneret-Gibourg (which as affected by frost, whereas Rousseau was not). The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, shimmering red fruit, outstanding mineralité and a subtle crescendo toward the pixilated finish. Is this the finest Ruchottes-Chambertin in 2016? Without a shadow of a doubt. Cyrille Rousseau is rapidly becoming one of my favorite people to meet in Burgundy. She looks so young that I would be amazed if she had ever bought an alcoholic drink without being asked for ID. Yet she already has a wealth of experience under her belt, having previosly worked in New Zealand (see last year’s report for details), and she is now firmly embedded within the Rousseau domaine, the next generation after the late Charles Rousseau and her father Eric. Moreover, discussing the wines with Cyrille, she already seems to be familiar with their enviable array of parcels, their nuances and strengths, their foibles. During our conversation she told me how in Les Cazetiers new vines have been planted in a parcel previously occupied by 80-year-old vines whose productivity was waning. Likewise, Ruchottes-Chambertin (her favorite vineyard…she admitted that her “heart” was in Ruchottes) saw its oldest vines uprooted to maintain a constant rotation of new and old stock. There is discrete expansion- a new plot in Les Crapiots that has recently been planted on fallow land, though this will be blended into the village cru.