A precociously forward nose – it hits you before your nose even reaches into the glass. Ignoring the complex, spicy oak character – and there is a lot of it – the core of the nose is a trip through red, down to black fruit, lower down it is a mineral, coal-like effect. Very high quality indeed. Eventually it takes on coffee, chocolate and a subtle creamyness. This is just a little tighter and with less fireworks than last time, it’s lost a little of the buttery texture (a good thing!), but the frame and proportions of the wine are awesome. Perfect balance, mineral, multi-dimensional and long. It’s drinking fine now, but this will be more and more stunning as it develops – what price one of these when it nears its 40th birthday!
Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze
2005 Perrot-Minot Christophe Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze
Medium-plus colour. The nose has width and a lovely creamy depth that’s edged with faint toffee. It’s not the deepest coloured, but this is very concentrated and coupled to lovely acidity. Super, balanced presentation. Understated but very, very impressive, it will need years in the cellar to provide complexity.
2005 Rousseau Armand Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze
2005 Bouchard Père et Fils Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is showing rather more dark oak and faint caramel over the darker-hued fruit. Softer and silkier in the mouth – clearly more oak. The acidity is a little more forward than the last wine, but it’s stunningly long finishing – though the flavours are dominated by the same dark barrel notes as from the nose. A lot of buttery oak texture but the wine survives and impresses despite that. Another stunner but I prefer the Faiveley today.
2005 Clair Bruno Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze
2005 Drouhin Joseph Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze
2005 Faiveley Georges Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze
Medium-plus colour. Lovely soft, yet precise red fruits set against a mineral aspect and faint dark oak. The palate betrays a transient hint of dissolved carbon dioxide but not to the detriment of its concentrated, mineral and rather linear presentation. Linear only until the mid-palate when, like the pop of a champagne cork it bursts into life and lingers in a really impressive finish. Superb
2005 Groffier Robert - Père et Fils Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze
Medium-plus colour. A wide, toffee-inflected nose that’s sweet. The palate is just a little less fresh than many, but it’s concentrated and savoury. The finish, versus what’s gone before, is rather modest. In isolation this is a very nice wine, in the context of the other bottles tonight it is on the second level.