2005 Chambolle Musigny Les Fuees

The 2005 Chambolle-Musigny Les Fuees is marked by wood smoke and roasted meat as well as fresh black cherry and tart, seedy blackberry. Deep and rich on the palate with bitter chocolate notes mingling with the black fruits and meat, this formidably represents the dark side of 2005 and the carnal side of Chambolle. Its finish is low-toned, with wet stone and chalk notes joining the chorus, but clarity and refinement of tannin are preserved throughout. This should repay at least a decade of patience. 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. Pungent dark raspberry, chocolate, minerals and smoke on the nose, along with a pronounced rocky quality. Sweet, dense and fine-grained, with the limestone soil giving energy and penetration to the wine's fruit. Finishes strong and long, with very fine tannins. Like a smaller-scaled Bonnes-Mares.

The 2005 Chambolle-Musigny Les Fuees is marked by wood smoke and roasted meat as well as fresh black cherry and tart, seedy blackberry. Deep and rich on the palate with bitter chocolate notes mingling with the black fruits and meat, this formidably represents the dark side of 2005 and the carnal side of Chambolle. Its finish is low-toned, with wet stone and chalk notes joining the chorus, but clarity and refinement of tannin are preserved throughout. This should repay at least a decade of patience. Jun 2007, www.robertparker.com