Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose has a creamy dimension to the fruit. Again, super-silky though this time the structure is less demanding – well to a degree! Very mineral again – super.
Comments for this entry
2005
2005 Ardhuy Beaune Petite Clos du Teurons Blanc
2005 Clair Francoise et Denis St.Aubin Murgers des Dents de Chien
The aromas start in a surprisingly floral/perfumed vein, slowly becoming more sedate with a faintly ripe yellow fruit and there are still hints of the almonds of it’s youth. Dense and ripe flavours that finish with a little agrumes. There’s plenty of fat and just enough acidity to balance. Certainly a very rich performance but very drinkable after a little aeration. I normally have in mind feminine adjectives with white wines, but there’s a builder’s muscle in here.
2005 Morey Marc Chassagne-Montrachet Morgeot
Medium, medium-plus yellow colour. A hint of sulfur, but otherwise soft yet penetrating notes of butterscotch and cream over ripe but very pretty fruits. Excellent intensity with penetrating acidity, this is both rich and powerful. In some ways it’s a little over the top and certainly starts a little chunky, but it really comes together with aeration. This wine is no shrinking violet – don’t go here for elegance – today it’s more of a swashbuckler!
2005 Bouchard Père et Fils Chablis Bougros
Pale yellow. Round and wide, still a little brioche and smooth ripe fruit. There’s a fatness that seems borne from less than generous acidity, yet your mouth waters in the good finish all the same. Same as when last tasted, it’s very rich but it’s sweet and relatively powerful. If anything it’s slightly better performing than the last bottle – Yum.
2005 Dubreuil-Fontaine Volnay
This is a very good value wine, not only is it well priced for a villages wine, as we now know it also contains a significant amount of 1er cru grapes from Carelle Sous Chapelle, Les Brouillards and Les Lurets. Double decanted an hour before pouring. Aromatically this is a little mute but there are fresh, high-tones of dark red fruits and fainter, high-toned floral aromas – very fine fruit – and the empty glass smells of rose petals. The last vestiges of fat are melting as the acidity starts to come to the fore – very smooth before a hint of tannin in the back-end. Certainly there’s a really nice depth of fruit with a decent length and a residual hint of sweetness, but here’s a tight wine. With the merest hint of a wince, this is drinkable today, but realistically it is already set for a 10 year-plus sleep – I think I’m lucky that I didn’t meet it earlier – otherwise I might have bought 2 cases!
2005 Clark David Bourgogne Au Pelson
From vines between Morey and Chambolle, but on the ‘wrong’ side of the Route Nationale 74. Deep colour. The nose is a brooding affair with faint spice and herb top-notes and a tight concentration of fruit below, eventually a faint milk-chocolate note surfaces. In the mouth this is unexpectedly intense for the appellation, rather tight and narrow in form which allows the acidity to gain the upper-hand – the classic face for many 2005s now. The tannin is a background velvet texture and the fruit is dark and fresh, finishing with a dried cranberry/raisin element. I suspect that this wine would have been absolutely singing a couple of years ago. Today, despite the appellation, this is a wine about future potential – I still find much to enjoy, but such a shame it was my only bottle. I don’t see either Morey or Chambolle in this, but it is anyway very impressive indeed, this clearly has the intensity, structure and balance of a very decent villages!
2005 Ardhuy Vosne-Romanée Les Chaumes
Deeply coloured. The nose has dark, brambly fruit and plenty of spicy, herbal aspects. In the mouth the acidity has become a little forward though far from overwhelming. A lovely borderline ripe flavour that has a hint of mint to go with its piercingly long finish – there’s added depth through the mid-palate. Rather smooth, this is very good now – even if it’s on its ’sleeptime downslope’. Very-much enjoyed.
2005 Lejeune Bourgogne
Medium-plus colour. Open, dark-red fruit aromas, faint iron. A palate that seems somehow a little attenuated (filtered?) and lacking a little gloss/brightness, yet there is good density, balance and flavour and there are no hard edges or angles – it is far from a chore to take the next sip. Reasonably open and still primary. A wine that is close to villages Pommard quality from many other vintages.