2005 Lucien Le Moine Chambolle-Musigny Les Charmes 1er Cru

(this was vinified with a portion of its stems and just finished its secondary fermentation) Good red-ruby. Musky aromas of raspberry, minerals and rose petal. Sappy, minerally and bright, with sneaky density of texture and a lightly saline character without any excess weight. Mounir Saouma noted that the line of clay that runs through Clos Vougeot also crops up here. Most wines from Chambolle needed a gentle extraction in 2005, he volunteered.

The Le Moine 2005 Chambolle-Musigny Les Charmes leads with aromas of red currant, sour cherry, vanilla and sweet, musky flowers. Suggesting silkiness on the palate, it displays utmost purity of ripe yet refreshing fruit, then finishes with ginger spice, chalk, salts, red berry sweetness, and a faintly bitter fruit skin edge and touch of roughness. I suspect this might be even better than its showing today suggests, given it has been in bottle only two weeks. Saouma insists that a seam of clay Charmes has in common with Clos Vougeot always makes for a bit more prominent tannin in the wines early days. Wine Advocate.June, 2007