2005 Chambolle Musigny Les Charmes

Bright, full ruby-red. Pungent aromas and flavors of blackberry liqueur, chocolate and violet show an almost roasted ripeness. Opulent, large-scaled and sweet, but with impressive sappy freshness giving this thick wine unexpected energy. This has a big underlying structure and an impressively long, rising finish that's quite dark in its fruit character but still very Chambolle.

Barthod’s 2005 Chambolle-Musigny Les Charmes offers concentrated, almost confectionary scents and flavors of cinnamon-tinged black raspberry and purple plum, crystalized ginger, and lily flower. Sweet and rich on a fat, creamy palate, it does not however lack for chalky mineral underpinnings. Tactile brown spice and tea-like accents add inner-mouth complexity, and this finishes with generous sweetness enlivened by just enough fresh fruit juiciness and framed by sufficient fine grained tannin and chalk. Practically irresistible now, it should age well for a dozen or more years. Sharing expanded wine-making facilities with her husband, Louis Boillot, Gislaine Barthod continues to render some of the purest, most expressively fruity and consistently excellent as well as ageworthy Pinots in Burgundy. All but the Bourgogne and village Chambolle – recently assembled in tank – were tasted from barrel. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990.