2005 Morey St Denis En la Rue de Vergy

From another high-altitude site overlooking a grand cru (in this instance Clos de Tart), the Clair 2005 Morey-St.-Denis En la Rue de Vergy makes lovely aromatic suggestions of herbal and plum distillate with fresh black cherry. Wearing its extract as formidable density on the palate, and with persistently juicy, tart black fruit and almost medicinal bitter herbal concentration, this finishes with a decidedly stony, earthy, abundance of mineral as well as smoked meat character. There is abundant fine tannin here, a somewhat austere personality, and rather tart fresh fruit, but the wine is convincingly well-constructed to reward at least 5-7 years in the cellar. Bruno Clair and his long-time cellar master Philippe Brun persist in rendering Pinots of uncompromising structure and fruit acid retention that are by no means long on youthful charm. Their 2005 collection was all still in barrel, from which I did selected tasting rather than (with one already assembled exception) tasting an at all precise reflection of the final blend. A small percentage of whole clusters was employed on the Gevrey crus, rising to 20% in the Clos de Beze. Brun decides whether or not to filter based on the character of the vintage and the result of trials. In 2005, he won’t. A couple of the Marsannays here were showing a rather awkward alternation between bright fresh fruit acidity and caramelized faintly wood tones, but admittedly, with larger cuvees, that is a tricky thing to judge prior to assemblange. Also recommended: 2005 Marsannay Vaudenelles ($32.00; 85-87+?), 2005 Marsannay Grasse Tetes ($39.00; 85-87+?). Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802