Medium, medium-pale ruby red. A nice, rather aged but still fruity nose edged with a little funk. In the mouth the fruit is okay, but the remnants of the tannin still show an astringent edge – this must have been close to undrinkable in its youth! It’s quite long and it’s a tasty length, but the fruit is way ahead of the tannin in termes of the age curve. I wouldn’t touch another for 5 years and I still think it will be a long way from silky.
From magnum. Medium golden. A nose that eventually gave up a creamy width and some savoury tones but consistently focused on the mineral. The palate was likewise mineral with good acidity and a number of waves of flavour prolonging the finish. Vibrant and tasty and stayed strong in the glass for the 2 hours we were together.
Cuvée François de Salins, Maison Paul Reitz. The colour is already a little concerning – a deep, burnished golden – fortunately the aromas have only the barest suggestion of anything oxidative, mainly showcasing a deep core of mature fruit edged with a trace of toffee. The palate is balanced, showing a waxy-smooth texture and a very nice length, redolent of the toffee on the nose. I think this is ready right now and will only decline from here. Very enjoyable – tinged with buyer’s regret as I only bought one!
Medium red colour just a faint amber transition at the rim. The nose is deep, brown sugar and baked red fruit with some higher alcoholic traces and faint vanilla – it’s lovely. On your tongue you miss a little ‘fat’ and there’s just a bitter chocolate edge to the tannin, but the fruit is equally lovely and the finish is very, very long with a raisin-fruit edge. Value alone vs recent vintage pricing is enough to guarantee this being a ‘rebuy’ – it’s hard to find good 1er crus from 2005 at this price.
Medium ruby-red colour. The nose is wide and quite forward, some diffuse higher tones and faintly spiced red fruit. The palate is lithe and muscular, good acidity too complimenting tannin that’s forward, but ripe and well under control. There’s a small burst of intensity before the finish – which is not bad, but could be longer. Muscular, interesting and balanced – if not stunning.
Deep colour, a core of garnet with a ruby rim. The nose is very deep, and quite reduced. With time the nose is much fresher with higher-toned jellied fruit – almost confiture – creamy black-skinned fruit forms its base – this is now lovely. The nose continues to really impress, the higher tones have become ever redder though the base remains black and creamy. A fresh palate with laser-like intensity – this is excellent – plenty of velvetty tannin and certainly longer than Grivot’s 97 Richebourg, though that length (like the Richebourg) is quite oak based and initially slightly bitter. The fruit needs five minutes to provide a nice sweet black impression, still quite primary, but it starts to come through on the finish too – with just an edge of creaminess, there are plenty of tannins bathing the mid-palate and finish but they seem quite round. The last bottles should wait a minimum of five years in the cellar, probably much longer – but they will be excellent.
The first few sniffs disappoint, a little undergrowth but little else. Slowly a dense red note builds at the core with a slightly herbal, menthol note above, with time some extra width of high-toned fruit and occasional glimpses of coffee – the herbal element is now much more in the background, just as the nose was almost coming together, but then a little cedar thing started to develop. The palate is dense, plush and very well textured – contrasting to the minerality of Bouchard Père’s Chambertin. The tannins come through on the mid-palate onwards and finish slightly bitter but there’s a real creamy base and this is probably the longest finishing. With time in the glass the palate remains dense, plenty of silky tannin and exquisitely long if not particularly involving.
Golden. The nose is savoury with hints of oak, still a little one-dimensional. The palate is wide and well textured though I was expecting a little more fat – one of the winemakers present opines that the yields might have been ‘comfortable’ on this wine. There are very faint oxidative hints that would be entirely appropriate on a 10+ year-old wine, but here we have only 8 years. It’s a nice wine, but given the appellation I had higher expectations. The finish is a little short (vs the Corton-Charlemagne it is paired with) but that is probably the limitation of the vintage.
Medium-plus ruby-red. When cold, this is wide and fresh with good purity. As it warms there is a touch of herb and the fruit has a more jammy edge. The tannin seems a little more prevalent when cold, linear, expanding into a very long finish. Warmer, it is fatter, the tannin sits better and the acidity is just right. Not a great grand cru, but it’s tasty and almost good value.
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