The Lafarge's old vines celebrated their 100th birthday with style with the 2021 Beaune 1er Cru Les Grèves. Bursting with aromas of sweet red berries, vine smoke, spices and peonies, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and perfumed, with a lively core of fruit framed by supple tannins.

The Lafarge's 99-year-old vines have turned in a terrific effort with the 2020 Beaune 1er Cru Les Grèves. Mingling aromas of dark berries and cherries with hints of rose petals, raw cocoa and forest floor, the wine is medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with ripe, powdery tannins and lively acids. It's a touch more enveloping and expansive in style than the more tensile Clos des Aigrots, a fine distinction that I suspect will become more apparent with bottle age.

Richer and fleshier than the finer-boned Clos des Aigrots, the 2019 Beaune 1er Cru Les Grèves offers up notes of plums and raspberries mingled with violets, sweet soil tones and grilled squab. Medium to full-bodied, layered and enveloping, it's elegantly gourmand, with a voluminous core of fruit framed by powdery tannins.

The Lafarge family's 97-year-old vines managed to produce a yield of 35 hectoliters per hectare this year, and they have produced a very serious wine for the long haul in the form of the 2018 Beaune 1er Cru Les Grèves. Unwinding to reveal notions of sweet red berries, orange rind and wilted rose petal, it's medium to full-bodied, fine-boned and mineral, with superb depth and a long, penetrating finish. This elegant, ethereal Beaune is built for the cellar.

From the domaine's oldest vines, the 2017 Beaune 1er Cru Les Grèves exhibits notes of cherries, spices and citrus peel. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and complete, with more concentration than the Clos des Aigrots and a more muscular chassis of fine-grained tannins, concluding with a long finish.