2005 Pommard Les Rugiens

The 2005 Pommard Rugiens offers not only the deepest color of the relatively light-hued Voillot collection, but also the deepest noir flavor shadings of black fruit and woodsy earthiness. Spiced black raspberry is undergirded by beefy richness and stony, salty minerality and suffused with abundant, fine tannin. This wine shows how much clarity and lift there can be to a Pommard (even as the flavors themselves are rather dark) and I would expect to repay a dozen or more years cellaring. Jean-Pierre Charlot promotes a brisk, athletically lean and often downright rapier style on which opinions are bound to diverge. If it sets you salivating to imagine the brightness, transparency and cut of Riesling in the medium of Pinot Noir – characteristics I would ordinarily consider more appropriate to Volnay than Pommard – then do not miss this address! The wines had very recently been assembled (and in three instances bottled) when I tasted. Also recommended: 2005 Bourgogne ($26.00;84), 2005 Pommard ($50.00;86), Voillot’s 2005 Beaune Coucherias ($60.00;85-87+?), 2005 Pommard Clos Micot ($85.00;85-86). Importer: Vintage 59, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 966 9218