A nicely wide nose. High-toned, middle-weight sweet red fruit in the mouth. Lovely but too easily forgettable…
Comments for this entry
2005
2005 Gros A-F Vosne-Romanée Clos de la Fontaine
The cork seems surprisingly ’spongy’ and pliable. Medium-plus colour. The nose is dark, spicy and shows a black oak toast and tar – eventually faint red fruits diluted by cream and faint ginger. In your mouth there’s a little fat and some silky texture – the tannin is quite fine. The mid-palate runs into quite a long finish – plenty of bitter-chocolate effect from the oak but some extra creamy fruit dimension too. This wine has plenty of dark oak character today but there’s more than enough density and material to balance – and it will fade with time, even in the glass, slowly there are redder fruits appearing. I’m not the biggest oak fan, but this is nicely presented and has plenty of ‘Vosne’ personality. I look forward following it’s evolution over the next 10+ years. My en-primeur price was a reasonable 35 Swiss francs.
2005 Comte Georges de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny
2005 Gros Frère & Soeur Vosne-Romanée
2005 Drouhin Joseph (Domaine de Vaudon) Chablis
Pale lemon-yellow. The nose has some intensity; high tones over ripe, linear fruit – there’s no seashore but it’s nice enough. Versus the ripe, slightly sweet Drouhin bottling, that is amply balanced by lovely acidity, this is just a little more austere; again super acidity but this time a little more to the fore but the mid-palate intensity – to which the acidity contributes – is super. Reasonable length too. Painfully young, but like an itch you can’t stop scratching – and this type of itch is usually more expensive to scratch – this is already my third bottle and I can feel another order coming on…
2005 Giroud Camille Gevrey-Chambertin En Champs
Medium cherry-red. The advice is to decant this as it may show a little reduction and carbon dioxide – so done. The initially diffuse nose takes about 15 minutes for a more focused, higher-toned impression, still with a trace of reduction. About 90 minutes were needed for an additional, darker cherry depth and a hint of toffee – the longer you wait the better, but after 2 hours I’d finished. The texture is excellent, super smooth. The grain of the tannin comes very late, just after the acidity bursts through the mid-palate. The fruit is nicely expressive with faint torrefaction providing a nod to the wood treatment. Not perfectly balanced today as the acid needs to integrate a little more in the mid-palate, but I think this will be lovely. Wait 5 years for this very sophisticated, medium-bodied wine.