2005 Gevrey Chambertin Clos St Jacques
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Tasting Notes
One of the great renditions of this cuvée in recent times is the 2005 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos Saint-Jacques, a magical wine that unfurls in the glass with a deep and complex bouquet of red berries and plums mingled with hints of raw cocoa, violets, blood orange and peony, complemented by enticing carnal bass notes. Full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, it's seamless and complete, with fine concentration, racy but ripe acids and ample reserves of fine, powdery tannin, concluding with a long and sapid finish. The 2005 Clos Saint-Jacques is a decade away from full maturity, but its reference-point quality has long been impossible to miss. This bottle, enjoyed in a Burgundian restaurant, only amplified my regret that I have none of this particular vintage in my own cellar.
Critic Scores
Average Score
Allen Meadows, Burghound
David Schildknecht, Vinous
More reviews and scores
This bottle travelled with Eric from Burgundy. Beautiful vibrant ruby colour, explosive peony fruit, more character than the bruised peaches often typical of the vintage. Succulent, rounded gorgeous. This does not sit in the classic line, showing maybe some heat at the end, but not enough to take away the pleasure.
Good medium cherry-red. Red berries, red cherry, mint and smoky, spicy oak on the nose. A step up in sweetness and volume from the foregoing 2005s, with a strong spice character to its red fruit flavors. This densely packed wine expands on the back half, gaining in thickness without showing any impression of heaviness. Finishes with lush, fine-grained, oak-driven tannins, a distinctive stoniness, and insinuating length. Perhaps the oakiest of these wines today, and in need of extended cellaring.
A subtle trace of wood frames the bright red pinot fruit and naturally spicy nose that is extremely fresh and this sense of vibrancy and freshness suffuses the rich, round and even more powerful lithe and tautly shaped flavors replete with the same energy and precision of the Ruchottes, all wrapped in a stony and perfectly balanced finish that seems to have no end. A stunning wine that should age for years and this is potentially the best CSJ that I have seen in the last 20 years.
About the producer
Based in Gevrey-Chambertin, Domaine Armand Rousseau is one of Burgundy’s most famous estates. Revered for making unearthly expressions of Pinot Noir, the estate’s wines are some of the most collectable in the world.