2005 Gevrey Chambertin Clos St Jacques
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Tasting notes
Deep, bright ruby-red. Pure, sexy aromas of raspberry, blackberry, plum and game. Thick and velvety on entry, then pliant and broad in the middle, with multidimensional flavors of dark fruits, pungent minerality, pepper, herbs, mocha and brown spices saturating the entire palate. I don't find this closed today but it will surely shut down soon. This voluptuous wine boasts superb lift and outstanding peppery persistence. Sylvie finds this too powerful. "My father loves young wines, though," she told me. "The 2000 is too old for him; he loves the 2003." This calls for a good decade of cellaring.
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Lovely balance. Real refinement. Real class. When I tasted this with her, Sylvie apologised for the wine’s lack of nose with some oak (80% new) still in evidence but I thought it was great. Meaty, refined, this wine came soaring out of the glass singing and dancing. Lovely acidity and very fine tannins – such a complete wine. Real magnetic appeal (funny I should have written this word about Fourrier’s example from this fantastic vineyard earlier in the day but there was nothing forced about my using the word again). More open than any Chambertin. So Long. Magnificent. (JR)
The Esmonin 2005 Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St-Jacques – unsurprisingly, incorporating virtually 100% whole cluster and new wood – bursts from the glass with scents of soy, aromatic woods, ripe black fruits, resin, rose, iris, violets, and roasted meats. Not at all effusively fruity or showy on entry, this nevertheless totally saturates the palate with fresh essence of blackberry and cherry, along with smoked and roasted meats, soy and stone, licorice and herbs. Quite tannic and palpably dense in the mouth, it displays a much sterner, less winsome personality than the Gevrey V.V. – but what a personality it has! In a remarkable finishing act, the tannins then seem to melt away, the wine grabs your palate, showering it with flowers and herbs, slathering it with black fruits and animal fat, dashing it against stones, reviving it with mineral salts, and leaving it exhilarated but utterly wrung-out. Esmonin doesn’t think her 2005s will ever “shut down”. But this one might just tell you to shut up: I suspect it will continue to control the agenda if opened any time over the next 12-15 years. (The strikingly floral, salty, savory, dynamic 2004 is gorgeous – if not in the same exalted league as this ‘05 – and well worth cellaring mid-term.) Sylvie Esmonin is a staunch believer in the use of whole clusters with stems (“the method of my grandfather’s day”) to enhance florality, fruit and structure, which presupposes late harvest. But she claims that this method of vinification itself helps moderate the efficiency of alcoholic conversion. In any event, levels of alcohol were the last thing noticeable as I was wowed by this year’s collection which, as usual, she planned not to begin bottling any earlier than April. Importer: Louis/Dressner Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 334 8191.
(70% vendange entier; 100% new oak) Good deep ruby-red. Explosive aromas of black cherry, minerals, dark chocolate and menthol, with hints of smoked meat and leather. Hugely dense and unusually powerful for this premier cru, with sappy, deep, wild flavors of black cherry, chocolate and leather. This, too, finished its malo in September and it's harder to taste today as Sylvie left more of the fine lees with the wine. Impressively structured, slowly evolving wine that's currently a bit tough on the back end. This is almost too much today but has splendid potential. Sylvie pointed out that the north side of the village really dominated the 2005 vintage with its power.