Medium-plus cherry red colour. The nose starts quite animale, taking quite some time to subside leaving only the most subtle of dark-skinned fruit aromas. There is a lot of wine here; ragged, chewy tannins leave little room for elegance, but you are left with quite profound, complex wine that bursts across the palate with red and black fruit flavours into the very long finish.
2005
2005 Long-Depaquit Chablis La Moutonne
The nose is quite dense, riper and more fruit driven than the Vaudesir. The palate is richer and also a little sweeter than that wine – still with the minerality for super Chablis though. It’s a real mouthful of wine, intense yet presented in a more refined fashion than the ‘wall of flavour’ offered by the Vaudesir. The length impresses terribly. The domaine thinks that the gap between this wine and the others is the widest they have ever seen.
2005 Clos Frantin Echézeaux
Medium, medium-plus cherry red. A wide and rather subtle nose showing hints of earth. The palate is lithe and a little tannic. Good acidity and superbly wide, creamy complex flavours that go on and on. This does not have the density of the wines that follow but it’s a marvel in a glass and highly recommended!
2005 Clos Frantin Clos de Vougeot
2005 Clos Frantin Chambertin
Medium-plus colour. The nose is impressive with mineral and faintly animale notes mingling with dark fruit – very complex. Concentrated fruit magnificently covers the tannin. Linear entry to the palate, only subltly widening into the mid-palate before impressively bursting into the multi-dimensional finish. Wow! And I thought the Clos de Vougeot was good – this is fantastic quality.
2005 Clos Frantin Richebourg
After the frankly brilliant wines that preceded this, unfortunately we didn’t quite finish with a bang – this was rather unknit and apparently needs some time to settle: Deeply coloured. The nose at first is a little uninspiring – wide but ill-defined – slowly it improves and provides a little coffee depth. The palate is lithe with fairly well covered tannin, but it’s the cream-edged fruit that impresses the most – certainly the most striking of any wine here. The length is also, frankly, superb, but overall this is a wine today of parts and potential rather than cohesion. I’d happily drive some distance to taste it again once it’s settled down though!
2005 Pavillon Corton Clos des Maréchaudes
2005 Potel Nicolas Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze
2005 Potel Nicolas Bonnes-Mares
A deep nose that also shows quite some width. Warming and swirling fills in the picture with some higher toned notes. Big and impressive in the mouth with chocolate covered fruits and a wave of tannin that keeps abreast of the fruit. Incredibly impressive stuff, but for my own preference it’s just a little brutal today. Really impressive stuff.