Whilst nobody has the luxury of tasting, and comparing, everything, I felt confident when first tasting this wine (on release) that it was one of the greatest village wines of Gevrey in that already great vintage. In some of the vintages that followed, I felt that the crown of this cuvée had certainly slipped – but more recently Sylvie has been back to form. This wine still crushes it though!
2005 Sylvie Esmonin, Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles-Vignes
Deep colour – only just transparent! What a nose! Deep, fabulously cushioned fruit and a faint smokiness from the stems – I would automatically say a young grand cru if offered this ‘blind.’ The palate, whilst still a belter is more on a 1er cru level! Wide, a little cushioned – beautifully proportioned – but without quite delivering the depth of flavour that the nose promises. That’s the fault of the nose over-delivering rather than any negatives associated with the flavour. Yet the long finish is once-more a beauty. This is still a wine that would give most grand crus from other vintages plenty of competition. Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes
There are 2 responses to “sylvie esmonin’s 2005 gevrey-chambertin vv”
Having now consumed over 20 of these and with only 6 left I can only concur. One of the greatest village Gevrey ever. The CSJ is also spectacular but this is just amazing and with climate change we may see even better ones to come. I will hold off on my 2010 & 2015 and hope. By the way there is still a fair amount of this available and at a price that is more than reasonable given that there is no other Burgundy this good available for a reasonable price. 2 bravos and if you’re lucky enough to have a magnum, don’t touch until that magnum is of full legal drinking age.
Ah – a bulk buyer 🙂
I have one or two more of these – plus a couple of CSJs – but I’ll try to be more patient with those!
I only ever saw magnums of this cuvée in the short-lived café/caviste that was near the traffic-lights of Gevrey – closed for at least the last couple of years – perhaps more like 4 or 5!
Certainly Sylvie’s last couple of vintages have been (once more) absolutely stellar after a few vintages of more modest offerings
I remember this being utterly impenetrable in 2008, but it certainly seemed as though it was going to turn into something special.
A 2010 CSJ the other day was rich and delicious but ultimately a little too easy, for me often a characteristic of the vineyard.
I agree completely with the ‘easy’ comment re CSJ. I, of-course love, the climat, and it is very often the most sauve and complete of the Gevrey 1ers – but is easy next to the grand crus…