2005 Chambertin Clos de Beze

Dark, bright red. Multidimensional, soil-driven nose features wild red berries, smoke, minerals, dried rose, mocha, underbrush and an exhilarating suggestion of white flowers. Like pure silk in the mouth but with pungent mineral lift giving this voluminous, extract-rich wine a nearly weightless impression. As fat, full and solid as this is, the overall impression is of finesse and perfume. Finishes with extraordinary mounting persistence and perfectly buffered, noble tannins.

The Bouchard 2005 Chambertin Clos de Beze displays a classic aroma of this singularly great site: rose petal, licorice, black cherry, and beef stock. In the mouth it offers intensity along with lift and elegance, its tannins ultra-fine and its finish long, savory, and subtly salty, with deep fruit and carnality. This should cellar superbly for at least 12-15 years. Managing director Stephane Follin and cellar master Philippe Prost preside over a remarkable new, gravity-fed winemaking facility capable of handling the fruits of Bouchard’s 130 hectares of vines – Burgundy’s largest estate (with 84 hectares in premier and grand crus alone) – not to mention the enormous range of wine from purchased fruit or wines. Fully 40% of the reds are vinified in open-top fermenters with manual punch-downs (the balance in a battery of roto-fermentors) and the system of traffic control alone that must be in place during crush is hard to imagine. The underground acreage devoted to barriques similarly defies imagination – until one sees it. Prost was very cautious with pigeage this year, but incorporated a significant percentage of whole clusters with stems in many of his better lots. A reputation for improved quality is being built here to which the results of 2005 will certainly contribute. I suspect that a number of the wines I tasted had not recovered from their recent bottling, hence the number of “+?”s one sees displayed following my scores. (Wines from the Domaine are designated D on the list above.) Also recommended: 2005 Savigny-les-Beaune Les Lavieres D ($30.00; 86), 2005 Monthelie Les Duresses D ($35.00; 84), 2005 Monthelie Clos des Champs Fulliot D ($35.00; 85), 2005 Beaune 1er Cru “Beaune du Chateau” D ($45.00; 86+?), 2005 Beaune Marconnets ($35.00; 86+?), 2005 Volnay Taillepieds D ($55.00; 85+?), 2005 Pommard 1er Cru ($45.00; 84+?), 2005 Nuits-St.-Georges ($55.00; 85), 2005 Gevrey-Chambertin ($35.00; 86), 2005 Vosne-Romanee ($35.00; 85), 2005 Nuits-St.-Georges Les Porrets St.-Georges ($55.00; 86+?), 2005 Nuits-St.-Georges Les Damodes ($55.00; 86+?). Importer: Henriot, Inc, New York, NY

Saturated ruby-red. Cool, multifaceted nose offers black cherry, dried rose, minerals, licorice, gingerbread, dark chocolate and caraway seed. Wonderfully suave on entry, then silky and full in the middle palate but energized by bracing minerality. This expands to fill the mouth with perfume. Offers a rare combination of density, silky texture and clarity. Finishes with big, ripe tannins and explosive length.