2005 Maison Joseph Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny Les Baudes 1er Cru

The 2005 Chambolle-Musigny Les Baudes features bright red cherry and cranberry accented by pungent ginger spice and vanilla. Sweetly-fruited on the palate, with hints of caramel and resin (although it matured in only around 30% new barrels) this offers – as did its blended premier cru counterpart – a more exuberant and extroverted and luminous personality than is typical for 2005, finishing with impressive juicy sweetness and spice. Today I don’t pick this as better than that excellent blend, but it may be hiding more. These 2005s were bottled around two months earlier than usual, says Frederic Drouhin, to retain freshness. (Long-time oenologue Laurence Jobard, incidentally, was replaced this year by Jerome Faure-Brac.) As is always the case, fruit from a great many properties owned or accessed by Drouhin is declassified and blended out, leaving only selected terroirs as the subjects of single-site bottlings. (In 2004, for example, even the Beaune Clos des Mouches – due to hail – was declassified into lip-smacking, remarkably soothing Cote de Beaune.) That said, as befits the quality of 2005, there were more individual bottlings from this vintage than is usual, and I did not taste all of them. (Wines from the Drouhin domaine holdings display a “D” in their listing.) This year’s collection radiates class from top to bottom. Even Drouhin’s ubiquitous, 25,000-case generic “Laforet” displays tender, ripe cherry fruit, a silky palate and iodine-like minerality. Also recommended: 2005 Bourgogne Laforet ($14.00;85). Importer: Dreyfus-Ashby & Co., New York, NY; tel. (212) 818 0770