2005 Chambolle Musigny Les Baudes (Domaine Gagey)

A 2005 Chambolle-Musigny Les Baudes displays its kinship to next-door Bonnes Mares with aromas of black raspberry, sage and horehound. In the mouth, it exhibits admirable concentration with lightly-cooked black raspberry fruit underlain by charred meat and bitter herbs. Chalky mineral suggestions impinge on the wine’s already youthfully elegant finish. One should be able to enjoy this relatively early on, which however doesn’t preclude its evolving positively over 8-10 years. Jacques Lardiere has once again presided over a collection for the most part not intended to flatter in its youth, but rather to achieve an eventual balance of fruit acidity with (in this instance frequently quite prominent) tannin. Prolonged post-fermentative extraction promoted a formidably-structured group of wines, which Lardiere expressed no hurry about bottling. Certain of these – particularly from the Cote de Beaune – displayed a slightly drying finishing astringency or simply an austere lack of charm to match their concentration, traits Lardiere suggested might be traceable to drought stress in those sites. A brief July rain that reached the Cote de Nuits but not the Cote de Beaune was critical, he asserts, and all of Jadot’s vines in the northern Cote were picked before the harvest in the south commenced. (Wines from the Domaine Louis Jadot, Domaine Heritiers Louis Jadot, or Domaine Gagey, have been identified with a letter “D” in their listings.) Also recommended: 2005 Cote de Nuits-Villages Le Vaucrain ($25.00;86+?), 2005 Santenay Clos de Malte ($27.00; 85-87), 2005 Savigny-les-Beaune Aux Guettes (84-86+?), 2005 Nuits-St.-Georges ($37.00; 85-87+?), 2005 Chambolle-Musigny ($50.00; 85-87+?). Importer: Kobrand, Inc., New York, NY; tel.(212) 490 9300

Red-ruby color. Black cherry, minerals, spices and wild herbs on the nose. Supple but a bit youthfully clenched, with excellent energy to the mineral and spice flavors. Not a powerful style, but delicate, elegant and long, with a dusty, fine-grained finish featuring late notes of licorice and minerals. This one will require a good six to eight years of cellaring.

A highly spicy and seductive nose that combines enticing red, black and violet aromas together with rich, full and sweet flavors that are at once textured and mouth coating. This is supple on the mid-palate because of all of the extract yet the finish firms up quickly. A lovely Chambolle. Allen Meadows, Burghound, Apr01,2007.