2005 Gevrey Chambertin Jeunes Rois

From a parcel just outside Brochon, the Geantet-Pansiot 2005 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Jeunes Rois offers aromas of bright cherry fruit with sauteed mushrooms and chalk dust. Concentrated and compact on the palate, with persistently tart, fresh cherry, impressively mouth-coating if a bit marked for now by both its acidity and slightly austere tannins, this seems to ask for at least 3-4 years in bottle. Vincent Geantet as usual bottled well before year’s end, and his wines seemed to be having a particularly expressive, fruit-filled day when I tasted. Interestingly, much as he bottles all of his wines together, so, Geantet’s barrel regimen is the same regardless of appellation: one-third each of new, one-year and two-year wood. He prolonged the pre-fermentative maceration to eight days, which seems to have enhanced the brightness of fruit exhibited by these wines. I must say I did not come prepared for quite such an impressive collection as that which Geantet delivered. Importer: Kysela Pere et Fils, Winchester, VA; tel. (540) 722 9228

Good full red. Perfumed aromas of black cherry and smoked meat. Supple and perfumed in the mouth, with ripe acids keeping the wine's sweetness under wraps. (But this still comes off as sweeter than the basic village bottling, which I rated 87.) Offers good spicy intensity and verve, and coats the palate on the firmly tannic, persistent finish, which shows a late note of licorice.