2005 Charmes Chambertin

The purity, intensity and clarity of finishing fruit is striking. From vines planted in 1920 (in Mazoyeres), the 2005 Charmes-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes is as high in alcohol – at around 13.5% – as wine from this (or for that matter any other) vintage at Truchot gets. Like this year’s Sentiers, it only finished malo in December, which surprised Truchot who is used to early malos. Meat, cedar, licorice and distilled plum aromas usher in a palate of refinement but underlying firmness, displaying blueberries, tiny purple plums and spiced meats. The finish grips with vividly fresh, spiced fruit, and salty minerality, building simultaneously with deep, rolling bass-tones of steamed stones, roasted game, and beef marrow. This seems not to be suffering from the bottling, but you can be sure it will take some years before it really displays its potential, which should encompass at least two decades of ageworthiness. Also recommended: 2005 Bourgogne ($20.00; 86+?). After twenty-six vintages (twenty-two of them, thankfully, having been sold in the U.S., which became his largest market), and with no heirs, 68-year-old Jacky Truchot is retiring. Even the portion of Clos Sorbe behind the hulking family manor (familiar to Burgundy lovers from the old photograph on his label) is for sale with the house. Truchot’s wines could rightly be called “old-fashioned”, which made them all the more exceptional and coveted in recent years. As Robert Parker wrote of them in these pages in 1991, “as light ... as they appear, they often possess stunning fragrances and amazing richness and character.” The expression “grown, not made” has never been truer than of these wines of a farmer bonded with his vines, and they offer terrific values. Truchot expressed relief at having bowed out on a high note and especially at having missed out on 2006! I visited on an inopportune occasion, as these wines had only been bottled that week (although as usual, without pumping or filtering), and at least in part suffered from recent sulfuring. Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800.