2005 Bienvenues Batard Montrachet
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Tasting notes
Pale color. Mineral-dominated aromas of crushed stone, clove and menthol. Intensely flavored and impressively concentrated, with terrific backbone to its juicy peach and stone flavors. A bit youthfully aggressive in a positive way and clearly in need of extended cellaring. But this boasts superb potential. This and the premier crus were bottled in March of 2007. Carillon is now using 50 parts per million free sulfur at bottling, compared to 35 to 40 prior to 2004. He suggests waiting five to eight years for the '05 cru bottlings.
Critic scores
Average Score
Allen Meadows, Burghound
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Subtle nose hints at hazelnut, nut oils, mint and smoky oak. Fat, sweet, lush and seamless, with lovely peachy, spicy flavors of noteworthy intensity. As rich, full and seemingly gentle as this is, there's also good supporting minerality. Finishes very long, but without quite the grip of the more classic years. This always needs time to digest its oak, notes Carillon. Here there's one new barrel and one one-year-old barrel; Carillon's premier crus, in comparison, get about 20% new oak.
A distinctly different aromatic profile of slightly mentholated notes accompanied by honeysuckle, citrus and white rose petal aromas trimmed in a deft touch of wood toast that merge into rich, full and unusually powerful broad-shouldered flavors that are also on the understated side despite the size and weight. This is a seriously impressive effort and one of the stars of the vintage. Don't miss it!