Roumier

Tasting Notes:
The 2005 Chambolle-Musigny Ñ around two-thirds of it coming from old vines in high-elevation sites Ñ offers high-toned cherry and citrus rind aromas along with pungent, musky florality. Bright cherry fruit, undertones of roast beef, and persistent inner-mouth florality lead into a refined, long, attractively lean finish, revealing abundant but sophisticated tannins that will help justify at least 3-5 years in the cellar. Given the performance of the Bourgogne, I suspect that this wine by contrast was suffering a bit of bottle shock. One senses that Christophe Roumier considers 2005 a high point of his career, and my visit with him was among the high points of my recent trip. He describes this as Ùa classic vintage lending itself to very calm, classic vinification,Î which given the opportunities afforded by perfectly healthy, firm, dry, ripe fruit involved triage almost solely to remove ladybugs, and included around 25% whole clusters in the fermenters at the Premier Cru level and 50% at that of Grand Cru. Wine Advocate # 170 Apr 2007
Parker Points: 89
Drinking Period:  -

Tasting Notes:
The order in which Roumier elects to pour surely reflects not just Chambolle chauvinism, but a belief in the Grand Cru quality of his 2005 Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses. There are certainly indications of this in the glass, but the wine is suffering from a slight, temporary reduction. This enhances the gamey and smoky side of the nose, but there is ample concentration of black raspberry along with narcissus and iris florality as well. In the mouth, one is rewarded with prodigious, persistent, fascinatingly complex animality and floral perfume, pointed ripe-yet-tart black fruits, a fine-grained structure, and palpable mineral extract. The finish is strikingly energetic and penetrating, even though one senses a slight reductive corset on the fruit. This will certainly become a profound wine, best revisited only after a decade in bottle. One senses that Christophe Roumier considers 2005 a high point of his career, and my visit with him was among the high points of my recent trip. He describes this as Ùa classic vintage lending itself to very calm, classic vinification,Î which given the opportunities afforded by perfectly healthy, firm, dry, ripe fruit involved triage almost solely to remove ladybugs, and included around 25% whole clusters in the fermenters at the Premier Cru level and 50% at that of Grand Cru. Wine Advocate # 170 Apr 2007
Parker Points: 93-94
Drinking Period:  -