2005 Domaine Simon Bize et Fils Savigny-lès-Beaune Aux Guettes 1er Cru

From a site immediately above the town of Savigny, the 2005 Savigny-les-Beaune Aux Guettes displays aromas of blackberry, wood smoke, and toasted walnut. In the mouth, this offers diverse black fruits, fruit pits, toasted nuts, meat stock concentration and stony minerality in a dense, sappy matrix vigorous in its complex interplay of flavors and finishing intensity. It is one of those 2005s that may be more impressive than fun to drink in its youth, but reveals enough deep, dark, complexity to convince one that it is deserving of a place in the cellar for ten or more years. Malolactic fermentations took place without delay and Patrick Bize had bottled many of the wines already in November. A significant portion of whole clusters were included in most of the fermentations. Wines from this address seldom make concessions to early drinkability or cheap thrills, and the inherently concentrated, darkly toned 2005s are certainly no exception. A Becky Wassserman Selection (various importers), Le Serbet, Beaune; fax 011-33-3-80-24-29-70.