2005 Domaine Bizot Echézeaux Grand Cru

From the Les Orveaux section of its appellation high up above the Chateau du Clos Vougeot, Bizot’s 2005 Echezeaux smells of concentrated, tiny cherries and purple plums, bitter-sweet flowers, and wood smoke. Intensely-fruited, pungently smoky and quite gripping on the palate, its inner-mouth suggestions of pit fruit distillates and flowers are especially alluring. Meaty (raw) and mineral (chalk) dimensions are not neglected here either. The long, savory, sweetly-fruited finish is marked by abundant spice, but also by fine tannin and a hint of wood that at least for now ever so slightly cut against the purity and relative delicacy of the fruit. Still, this is a sexy wine: clear and refined, complex and intense without any heaviness. Having no experience with the maturation of Bizot’s Echezeaux, I can nevertheless reasonably envision pulling a cork again after 5-7 years to determine how the tannins are evolving. Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524 1524