2005 Griotte Chambertin
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Tasting notes
Bright, deep red-ruby. Less open and a bit more reduced on the nose than the Charmes but with lovely purity and sappiness to the slightly liqueur-like dark cherry, mineral and mocha aromas. Dense, sappy and sweet; almost like a syrup of pinor noir, but with the wine's liqueur-like thickness leavened by an exotic floral element that emerged with air. Really explodes and opens out on the finish, where the substantial ripe tannins are drowned in fruit. This big boy calls for six or seven years of cellaring.
Critic scores
Average Score
Allen Meadows, Burghound
The Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
Dugat’s 2005 Griotte-Chambertin offers startlingly concentrated aromas and flavors of ripe black raspberry, cherry and cassis, backed by cherry stone bitterness and underlain by marrow-like meaty suggestions and chalk. This displays a flatteringly creamy, subtly oily texture as well as real lift and verve on the palate, not being in the least weighed down by its palpable high extract and intensity of fruit. The finish is both strikingly long and – for all of the wine’s manifest ripeness and brightness – relatively austerely chalky, nutty and cyanic. In fact, you’d need a geologist’s pick to unpack the back end of this striking wine, and at least a dozen years before it would be worth sacrificing a bottle in the interests of interim evaluation. Known for his low yields and intensely concentrated Pinots (all but the Bourgogne raised in new barrels), Claude Dugat – with the increasing involvement of his son Bertrand – has rendered a formidable 2005 collection that makes no concessions to early charm. Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 832-9083.
(from vines with an average age between 45 and 50 years) Saturated red-ruby. Pure, vibrant aromas of blackberry, minerals, licorice and spices show lovely perfume and lift. Not at all a fruit bomb today but this is utterly captivating wine, and the most classic pinot of the cellar, offering a texture of liquid silk with an impression of weightlessness. Wild fruits and flowers give the wine great energy and delicacy, and a sauvage element communicates a strong impression of soil. Finishes with an incredible peacock's tail of fruits, minerals and dark chocolate.
This is easily the most elegant and refined wine to this point with exuberant red berry fruit aromas, spice, warm earth and a touch of anise leading to rich, full-bodied and taut flavors that possess excellent concentration that completely buffers the firm but buried tannins. A beautiful combination of power and finesse. Allen Meadows, Burghound, Jan, 2007