2005 Givry Clos de Bois Chevaux

From a site adjacent to the well-known Clos Solomon, Joblot’s 2005 Givry Clos des Bois Cheveaux offers high-toned aromas of sour cherry, red currant, pungent flowers and ginger that instantly set me salivating, even at eight-thirty in the evening of a day with six previous appointments. Spice, salty, chalky minerality, concentrated red fruit and inner-mouth florality put one in mind of Volnay. A penetrating, bright, savory and refined finish caps this promising candidate for enjoying at anywhere from 3-7 years of age. Jean-Marc Joblot says he is always seeking precisely what 2005 delivered – the best fruit of his thirty year career: concentrated, pure, its elements in equilibrium. He continues to rely on roto-fermentors and is unafraid of new wood. But the wines are not just well-concentrated. They are well-balanced and possessed of considerable refinement, once again proving that the best reds of the Cote Chalonaise deserve more serious attention than most Burgundy lovers or journalists accord them. Joblot was at pains to warn me that these wines were traumatized from recent bottling, although I can’t say I would have arrived at that conclusion from their performance. Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 832-9083