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Tasting Notes for Chambertin - Potel, Nicolas, 2005:
Here is a 2005 Chambertin that rivals the rose petals of Clos de Beze, along with licorice, a ripeness of red fruit, a suggestion of peach jam, and a pungency of cinnamon that turns tactile on the palate. A chocolate richness and liqueur-like fruit intensity in the mouth never lose sight of the rose petals, nor cover up the chalk, wet stone and roasted meat that underlie a sumptuous, sultry finish. ÙRound,Î ÙrichÎ and ÙresonantÎ gain new meaning with this stunningly opulent Pinot. Wine Advocate # 171 Jun 2007
Parker Points: 87-88
Drinking Period:  -

Tasting Notes for Chambertin Clos de Beze - Drouhin, Joseph, 2005:
The Drouhin 2005 Chambertin Clos de Beze Ñ which combines purchased fruit with a bit from their domaine Ñ displays a classic nose of black cherry, licorice, white pepper, and rose petal; stains the palate with its intensity of fruit, herb and flower while displaying fantastic elegance, polish and silken refinement of texture; and grips for dear life in a finish marked by stunningly vivid floral perfume. This superb Pinot should not be revisited for at least 5-7 years and will doubtless be worth holding for twice that amount of time. These 2005s were bottled around two months earlier than usual, says Frederic Drouhin, to retain freshness. (Long-time oenologue Laurence Jobard, incidentally, was replaced this year by Jerome Faure-Brac.) As is always the case, fruit from a great many properties owned or accessed by Drouhin is declassified and blended out, leaving only selected terroirs as the subjects of single-site bottlings. (In 2004, for example, even the Beaune Clos des Mouches Ñ due to hail Ñ was declassified into lip-smacking, remarkably soothing Cote de Beaune.) That said, as befits the quality of 2005, there were more individual bottlings from this vintage than is usual, and I did not taste all of them. (Wines from the Drouhin domaine holdings display a ÙDÎ in their listing.) This yearÕs collection radiates class from top to bottom. Even DrouhinÕs ubiquitous, 25,000-case generic ÙLaforetÎ displays tender, ripe cherry fruit, a silky palate and iodine-like minerality. Wine Advocate # 171 Jun 2007
Parker Points: 96
Drinking Period:  -

Tasting Notes for Chambolle Musigny Les Cras - Rion, M & P, 2005:
The 2005 Chambolle-Musigny Les Cras smells of ripe blackberry, raspberry, forest floor and chalk dust. A polished, creamy, yet palpably chalky and brightly fresh-fruited palate offers a sumptuous saturation of black and red fruits with inner-mouth aromatic accents of cherry pit, pistachio, flowers and citrus zest. This shows wonderful primary fruit intensity and energy, exciting length, and the promise of continued poise and polish for at least another 10-12 years. 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:  -

Tasting Notes for Clos de la Roche - Dujac, 2005:
The SeyssesÕ 2005 Clos de la Roche charts new territory in this collection for sheer intensity. Black cherry, kirsch distillate, cedar, incense, iron filings, wet stone, and roasted meats and coffee represent a few of the immediate aromatic suggestions forced on this taster. In the mouth, it is similarly compelling, with an eruption of clear black cherry, cassis, and meat juices, faintly bitter notes of fruit skin and pungent herbal and mineral notes adding complexity. The texture is incipiently velvety, imposingly glossy, and a perfect cover for fine, abundant tannins. Spectacularly rich and reverberative in its multifaceted finish, this sensational wine deserves at least a decade of rest before re-opening. The already rich array of crus at Domaine Dujac has recently been augmented on two fronts. The purchase (along with de Montille) of the Societe Civile du Clos de Thorey (Thomas-Moillard) has brought them a raft of choice parcels including three new grand cru holdings (for a staggering total of eight). Meanwhile, they have expanded their negociant arm (with control over harvest and green harvest a prerequisite) to supplement in particular their volumes of village-level wine. (Those wines Ñ labeled ÙDujac Fils & PereÎ Ñ are signified in the above listing with ÙFPÎ. In fact, due to a legal technicality, the 2005 vintage wines from the properties newly acquired by the domaine Ñ but not subsequent vintages Ñ will also read ÙFils & PereÎ rather than ÙDomaineÎ.) Even with California-trained oenologist Diana Seysses (nee Snowden) joining her husband Jeremy and in-laws Jacques and Alec, and with a new winery (though at the old address) I wonder at how they are able to keep up with the magnitude of their responsibilities. Yet despite so many parcels and vines new to them this year, the results are consistently outstanding and at times astounding. Much of the vinification Ñ increasingly as one goes up the hierarchy of crus Ñ was of whole clusters. Malos finished (finally) by November and the wines were bottle in December and January. Wine Advocate # 171 Jun 2007
Parker Points: 96
Drinking Period:  -

Tasting Notes for Clos Vougeot - Meo Camuzet, 2005:
The 2005 Clos Vougeot displays roasted, singed meatiness along with bitter-sweet, szechuan pepper-tinged mulberry fruit. Boasting terrific density on the palate, fineness of tannin, clarity of fruit, and saline, chalk and wet stone manifestations of mineral, this finishes with pungent spice and stone fruit. Lock this away for 8-10 years. Between the effects of drought and of localized hail (in May, before it could effect quality) Jean-Nicolas Meo reported one of his smallest-ever harvests. His production, however, is being boosted these days by a range of negociant wines under the label ÙMeo-Camuzet Frere et SoeurÎ (marked ÙF&SÎ in the listing above). The top wines had been assembled in tank and sulfured in preparation for bottling, and were suffering a bit on account of this. Wine Advocate # 170 Apr 2007
Parker Points: 93-94
Drinking Period:  -

Tasting Notes for Clos Vougeot - Grivot, Jean, 2005:
A 2005 Clos Vougeot offers a nose of blackberry, wreathed in wood smoke. Firmer in tannin and with less surface polish than most of GrivotÕs wines, it exhibits chalky, black-fruited depth, and overt density, palate-coating richness, but also notable freshness and grip all the way through to its long if ultimately rather austere mineral finish. Figure waiting for 5-7 years just to check back on this. Etienne Grivot aimed this year for gentle extraction (essentially without pigeage), then watchful preservation of the freshness, subtleties and refinement inherent in near-perfect raw material. He performed some very light chaptalization to extend the fermentations. Given the health and natural concentration of his vinous raw material, he felt no need to sulfur or rack the wines until shortly prior to bottling (without filtration), which was the stage at which I tasted. Wine Advocate # 170 Apr 2007
Parker Points: 90-91
Drinking Period:  -

Tasting Notes for Gevrey Chambertin Lavaux St Jacques - Potel, Nicolas, 2005:
ItÕs hard to put names on the intense floral and mineral aromatics of PotelÕs 2005 Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux St.-Jacques but suggestions of rose petal, sea breeze and crushed stone are woven throughout this wine. Salt-crusted red currant, raspberry and beef marrow wreathed in flowers and truffle scents on the palate lead to a mysteriously multi-registered, rarified finish possessed of truly ethereal floral and distilled red fruit notes. The refinement of texture and interplay of flavors here are rather white wine-like. As superb as it is intriguing, I would suggest anyone lucky enough to latch on to a few bottles check it out in at most three more years, as one would not want to miss out on anything that is present now. Wine Advocate # 171 Jun 2007
Parker Points: 94-95
Drinking Period:  -

Tasting Notes for Gevrey Chambertin Lavaux St Jacques - Potel, Nicolas, 2005:
ItÕs hard to put names on the intense floral and mineral aromatics of PotelÕs 2005 Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux St.-Jacques but suggestions of rose petal, sea breeze and crushed stone are woven throughout this wine. Salt-crusted red currant, raspberry and beef marrow wreathed in flowers and truffle scents on the palate lead to a mysteriously multi-registered, rarified finish possessed of truly ethereal floral and distilled red fruit notes. The refinement of texture and interplay of flavors here are rather white wine-like. As superb as it is intriguing, I would suggest anyone lucky enough to latch on to a few bottles check it out in at most three more years, as one would not want to miss out on anything that is present now. Wine Advocate # 171 Jun 2007
Parker Points: 94-95
Drinking Period:  -

Tasting Notes for Le Corton - Bouchard Pere et Fils, 2005:
The Bouchard 2005 Le Corton Ñ from very chalky parcels in the Ur-Corton as it were, just below the forest Ñ offers aromas of cedar, spice, and smoked meat, a rather austere but certainly well-concentrated palate impression, and a bit of blockage by tannin. This seems to have been caught at a very awkward stage today. Managing director Stephane Follin and cellar master Philippe Prost preside over a remarkable new, gravity-fed winemaking facility capable of handling the fruits of BouchardÕs 130 hectares of vines Ñ BurgundyÕs largest estate (with 84 hectares in premier and grand crus alone) Ñ not to mention the enormous range of wine from purchased fruit or wines. Fully 40% of the reds are vinified in open-top fermenters with manual punch-downs (the balance in a battery of roto-fermentors) and the system of traffic control alone that must be in place during crush is hard to imagine. The underground acreage devoted to barriques similarly defies imagination Ñ until one sees it. Prost was very cautious with pigeage this year, but incorporated a significant percentage of whole clusters with stems in many of his better lots. A reputation for improved quality is being built here to which the results of 2005 will certainly contribute. I suspect that a number of the wines I tasted had not recovered from their recent bottling, hence the number of Ù+?Îs one sees displayed following my scores. Wine Advocate # 171 Jun 2007
Parker Points: 88
Drinking Period:  -

Tasting Notes for Ruchottes Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes - Rousseau, Armand, 2005:
The 2005 Ruchottes Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes, from vines averaging fifty years of age in a Rousseau monopole that makes up nearly one third of this entire appellation, offers ripe, fresh black cherry, sweet spices, black tea, high-toned herbal distillates, musky florality, cedar, game, smoked meat and wood smoke on the nose, and a palate of impressive density that revels in fresh fruit juiciness even as it reveals layers of meat and minerals and leaves you salivating and chewing the air long after it has (reluctantly) been spat. This fascinating wine deserves another showing in ten or a dozen years, but should certainly be worthy of more than two decades bottle maturation, indeed I am sure Charles Rousseau would recommend that you not even peek before then. With Eric Rousseau taking over increasingly from his father Charles, bottling may end up being slightly earlier than in the past, but such routine features as triage exclusively in the vineyards (not the press house), the inclusion of whole clusters and stems, precocious malolactic fermentation (although in 2005 and 2006, at least, Rousseau says he didnÕt force this), reliance on older barrels, and an eventual light plaque filtration for all wines remain as before. Given the long-running success of these Pinots in subtly yet insistently conveying the distinct personalities of their sites and standing the test of time, some might well ask Ùwhy change the recipe?Î while others will wonder whether the wines could be made even better. In any event, nature conspired to hand the new generation a vintage of historic dimensions. Wine Advocate # 170 Apr 2007
Parker Points: 94
Drinking Period:  -

Tasting Notes for Ruchottes Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes - Rousseau, Armand, 2005:
The 2005 Ruchottes Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes, from vines averaging fifty years of age in a Rousseau monopole that makes up nearly one third of this entire appellation, offers ripe, fresh black cherry, sweet spices, black tea, high-toned herbal distillates, musky florality, cedar, game, smoked meat and wood smoke on the nose, and a palate of impressive density that revels in fresh fruit juiciness even as it reveals layers of meat and minerals and leaves you salivating and chewing the air long after it has (reluctantly) been spat. This fascinating wine deserves another showing in ten or a dozen years, but should certainly be worthy of more than two decades bottle maturation, indeed I am sure Charles Rousseau would recommend that you not even peek before then. With Eric Rousseau taking over increasingly from his father Charles, bottling may end up being slightly earlier than in the past, but such routine features as triage exclusively in the vineyards (not the press house), the inclusion of whole clusters and stems, precocious malolactic fermentation (although in 2005 and 2006, at least, Rousseau says he didnÕt force this), reliance on older barrels, and an eventual light plaque filtration for all wines remain as before. Given the long-running success of these Pinots in subtly yet insistently conveying the distinct personalities of their sites and standing the test of time, some might well ask Ùwhy change the recipe?Î while others will wonder whether the wines could be made even better. In any event, nature conspired to hand the new generation a vintage of historic dimensions. Wine Advocate # 170 Apr 2007
Parker Points: 94
Drinking Period:  -

Tasting Notes for Volnay Clos des Ducs - Marquis d'Angerville, 2005:
The dÕAngerville 2005 Volnay Clos des Ducs displays even more obvious structure than the Champans as well as concentration and complexity than the Taillepieds. Deep, rich meatiness, juicy fresh black fruits, bitter-sweet chocolate richness, ginger and cardamom, and chalky minerality are present throughout. This displays enough inner-mouth perfume and fineness of flavor to hold oneÕs interest and release oneÕs saliva for an extended period. Fine-grained and finely-integrated tannins are part of this wineÕs tenacious cling. It will surely figure as one of the best in a long and distinguished line and be worth following for 15-20 years. This is one of those 2005s whose market price I have heard tell is bringing Pinot lovers to tears of despair, although the suggested retail pricing from the importer confirms the fact that neither they nor the domaine were greedy when it came to pricing this latest collection. (The impressively concentrated 2004 is a bit sweet-sour and faintly warm in finish today, but unlike so many wines of that vintage it is apt to have more to say for itself in another couple of years.) The late Jacques dÕAngervilleÕs son Guillaume and long-time wine making collaborator and brother-in-law Renaud de Villette can boast a superb collection of 2005s, but an equally apt tribute to the legacy of the late Marquis are the odds-beating results they bottled from 2004, when to the universal difficulties of that vintage were added the ravages of hail it visited on Volnay. The 2005s fermented with pump-overs but no punch-downs and exhibit formidable underlying structure yet pure fruit and early, flattering textural development. Wine Advocate # 171 Jun 2007
Parker Points: 94-95
Drinking Period:  -

Tasting Notes for Vosne Romanee Orveaux - Cathiard, Sylvain, 2005:
From 60-year-old vines high up above Echezeaux, the Cathiard 2005 Vosne-Romanee En Orveaux is the most austere wine on this occasion, with a chalky mineral character and bright but slightly tart red fruit marked by candied and caramelized inflections and a considerable evidence of new wood. Smoked meat character emerges beneath the alternating bright and caramelized black fruits in the finish. Not that this wine is entirely unimpressive Ñ far from it Ñ but could it just be having a bad day, I wonder? Wine Advocate # 171 Jun 2007
Parker Points: 89-90
Drinking Period:  -