2005 Richebourg

The 2005 Richebourg Grand Cru from Méo-Camuzet has a dark ruby colour. The bouquet is effervescent: more black than red fruit, quite floral with stunning delineation. Behind the fruit lie subtle scents of wet limestone and a little tobacco. The palate is supremely well defined; backward and powerful. This is an instance where vineyard and vintage combine to create a behemoth that is going to need another decade before reaching its drinking plateau. It is a saturnine Richebourg at the moment, ferociously backward and yet instinct tells me this is destined to be wondrous once it finally reaches its drinking plateau. Give it another decade. Tasted at Taillevent restaurant in Paris.

Like many '05s have become in this very early stage of their evolution, this is presently quite reserved though the reticent aromas of dark pinot fruit, minerals, earth and now more evident spice notes are ripe, stylish and classy with very fresh and cool big-bodied and sleekly muscled flavors that positively exude a sense of underlying tension and energy on the very firmly structured and tight-as-a-drum finish that still manages to deliver real explosiveness. One of the great wines of the vintage and worth a special search but be prepared to have some patience while this grows up! A genuine 'wow' wine.