2004 Charmes Chambertin Vieilles Vignes

Medium red, even a bit pale at the rim. Perfumed aromas of small wild red berries, coffee, mocha, minerals and meat. Wonderfully sweet and gripping wine, with a steely backbone and sound acidity giving focus to the flavors. Not an especially fleshy style but this is compellingly aromatic and long-a bit in the style of a Chambertin. Serious stuff, and a perfect example of how color in pinot noir is not necessarily directly proportional to concentration and complexity. (Laurent also showed me a sample of Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Saint-Jacques with 14% natural alcohol; although superconcentrated, liqueur-like and strongly mineral in character, the wine was too troubled to assess following a recent racking.)