2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Cœur de Vallée

There are a lot of highlights in this range from Luc and Jodie Morlet. Before focusing on specific wines, one thing that is clear is that over the last few years Luc Morlet has given his wines greater emphasis on freshness, but he has done that gradually, in such a way that the wines' essential personalities remain pretty much as they have always been. That's all to say that these are gorgeous, sumptuous wines built on serious textural richness, but with a bit more nuance than in the past, a pretty appealing combination in my book. The 2015s are all marked by lower yields of around 30% for the Chardonnays and Cabernets to as much as 50% for the Pinots. One of the consequences of vintages like 2015 where yields are abnormally low is that the wine's aren't always as differentiated as they can be. That is certainly the case with the 2015 Chardonnays, for example. The Pinots and Cabernets appear less affected, but I did not taste the 2016s for comparison, as I did with the Chardonnays. Even so, this is a stellar set of new and upcoming releases by any measure.