2005 Maison Joseph Drouhin Vosne-Romanée Les Petits-Monts 1er Cru

From the personal property (since 1985, and so-labeled) of Veronique Drouhin, steep, largely in old vines, and plowed with a horse, the 2005 Vosne-Romanee Les Petits Monts smells sweetly and brightly of red currant and cherry scented with star anise, cardamom, cinnamon and ginger. In the mouth, it displays fantastic brightness of fruit and lift, delivering a torrent of primary juiciness of fruit along with myriad spices, exotic inner-mouth florality, forest floor nuances, and subtle, lasting mineral notes. These 2005s were bottled around two months earlier than usual, says Frederic Drouhin, to retain freshness. (Long-time oenologue Laurence Jobard, incidentally, was replaced this year by Jerome Faure-Brac.) As is always the case, fruit from a great many properties owned or accessed by Drouhin is declassified and blended out, leaving only selected terroirs as the subjects of single-site bottlings. (In 2004, for example, even the Beaune Clos des Mouches – due to hail – was declassified into lip-smacking, remarkably soothing Cote de Beaune.) That said, as befits the quality of 2005, there were more individual bottlings from this vintage than is usual, and I did not taste all of them. (Wines from the Drouhin domaine holdings display a “D” in their listing.) This year’s collection radiates class from top to bottom. Even Drouhin’s ubiquitous, 25,000-case generic “Laforet” displays tender, ripe cherry fruit, a silky palate and iodine-like minerality. Also recommended: 2005 Bourgogne Laforet ($14.00;85). Importer: Dreyfus-Ashby & Co., New York, NY; tel. (212) 818 0770