2005 - Chambertin-Clos de Beze Grand Cru, Armand Rousseau

The 2005 Chambertin Clos de Beze offers alluring aromas of licorice, mint, vanilla, plum paste, cherry preserves and rose petals, and seduces the palate with silky, incredibly refined texture and several octaves of fruit, herbal, floral and mineral notes, leading to a reverberative finish in which fruit pit and stony, chalky elements lend a sense of dark, weighty authority and an umami-like, meaty savor promotes uncontrollable salivation. No layering or mixing of metaphors can hope to do justice to the layering and concatenation of flavors on display. 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 didn’t 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 “why change the recipe?” 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. Importer: Frederic Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700

Good full red. Briary raspberry, dark cherry and menthol on the nose, along with a medicinal reserve. Powerful and thick on entry, then quite closed, even medicinal, in the middle, without the exotic character that this cuvee often shows in the early going. Quite closed today but this utterly seamless, superrich wine boasts superb structure and grip. Wonderfully long and pure on the back end, with strong but perfectly integrated acidity. Give this impeccably balanced wine 12 years.

Real mass and density here. Absolutely classic, solid, dry, sappy, savoury burgundy in one of its longest-living registers. Solid Gevrey charge of chewable fruit – nothing sweet and beguiling about this! It’s almost self-consciously ponderous, in fact. This wine pronounces rather than tries to charm – surprisingly expressive already. Big! (JR)