2005 Bouchard Père & Fils Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

There are only four barrels of Bouchard’s 2005 Bonnes Mares. Brightly scented with tart, fresh black raspberry along with resin and sage pungency, this displays the almost savage intensity characteristic of its site, as well as slightly obstreperous tannins and a hint of heat in its brambly, concentrated finish. This high-toned, lean, persistent Pinot may calm down and fill out a bit over the next few months. It certainly seems capable of rewarding a decade or more of cellaring. Managing director Stephane Follin and cellar master Philippe Prost preside over a remarkable new, gravity-fed winemaking facility capable of handling the fruits of Bouchard’s 130 hectares of vines – Burgundy’s largest estate (with 84 hectares in premier and grand crus alone) – not to mention the enormous range of wine from purchased fruit or wines. Fully 40% of the reds are vinified in open-top fermenters with manual punch-downs (the balance in a battery of roto-fermentors) and the system of traffic control alone that must be in place during crush is hard to imagine. The underground acreage devoted to barriques similarly defies imagination – until one sees it. Prost was very cautious with pigeage this year, but incorporated a significant percentage of whole clusters with stems in many of his better lots. A reputation for improved quality is being built here to which the results of 2005 will certainly contribute. I suspect that a number of the wines I tasted had not recovered from their recent bottling, hence the number of “+?”s one sees displayed following my scores. (Wines from the Domaine are designated D on the list above.) Also recommended: 2005 Savigny-les-Beaune Les Lavieres D ($30.00; 86), 2005 Monthelie Les Duresses D ($35.00; 84), 2005 Monthelie Clos des Champs Fulliot D ($35.00; 85), 2005 Beaune 1er Cru “Beaune du Chateau” D ($45.00; 86+?), 2005 Beaune Marconnets ($35.00; 86+?), 2005 Volnay Taillepieds D ($55.00; 85+?), 2005 Pommard 1er Cru ($45.00; 84+?), 2005 Nuits-St.-Georges ($55.00; 85), 2005 Gevrey-Chambertin ($35.00; 86), 2005 Vosne-Romanee ($35.00; 85), 2005 Nuits-St.-Georges Les Porrets St.-Georges ($55.00; 86+?), 2005 Nuits-St.-Georges Les Damodes ($55.00; 86+?). Importer: Henriot, Inc, New York, NY

Full ruby-red. Highly nuanced nose combines medicinal cherry, mocha, wild herbs and spices, licorice and blond tobacco. Juicy on entry, then chewy and palate-staining in its mineral intensity, with a tightly coiled spring. Powerful, classy, painfully young wine offering a compelling push-pull of sweetness and minerality. A muscular young aristocrat. Not yet expressing itself in the middle palate, this wonderfully dense, full-bodied wine should be superb with 12 to 15 years of bottle aging.