Generally, one should wait five years from the vintage before consuming one of Domaine Bitouzet-Prieur’s top Pinot Noirs. The family’s wines are seldom open/generous upon release, but they promise to pay massive dividends to those patient enough to wait—especially so for a classically nuanced and transparent vintage like 2017. Even at five years old, today’s “Clos des Chênes” is only just beginning to shed its reticence and won’t be fully firing until 2025, or plateauing until at least 2030. Make no mistake, though: this is already a glorious, intricately chiseled, deeply elegant Pinot Noir that would be a cashmere-adorned Harvard athlete in human form. In the glass, slow-churning waves of red and black cherry, wild strawberry, hibiscus, damp violet, and Damson plum are coaxed out with ample air, all of which are propped up on a soft bed of crushed stone, iron, moss, baking spice, and aged tea leaf. The palate is medium-bodied and wonderfully graceful with a delicate profundity that’s present in every sip. If you absolutely must open this magnum now, here’s my response: “DON’T!” Instead, pull the cork on a 750ML, and let this titanic beauty keep slumbering until its 10th birthday at the very minimum!