Tasting Notes
Vinous 93.5
Deep red-ruby. Superripe aromas of black plum, blueberry, graphite, mocha and wild herbs; there's something almost Bordeaux-like about this. Then dense, sweet and powerful, with a seamless, fine-grained texture and a richness verging on chocolatey. Less perfumed than the Chambolle cuvees, but with no shortage of sap. Most impressive today on the back end, finishing with substantial dusty tannins and rising flavors of plum, menthol and chocolate. This muscular and very young wine will be long-lived.
Robert Parker 93-94
The 2005 Bonnes Mares marries black and red raspberries with fresh- sorbet- and liquer-like aspects alternating on a quite refined, polished, and (for this cru) seemingly less-savage than usual palate. Myriad herbs and spices mingle with the fruit and suggestions of wood smoke, horehound and sassafras emerge along with the sweet raspberries in a lingering finish that administers a considerable lashing of fine tannin and displays a sappy, resinous, faintly peppery cling. This is certainly the alter ego of this year’s cool, floral, tender Amoureuses. Final choices had been made as to those barrels from Musigny that would be culled to bottle as Chambolle 1er Cru but they represented several as yet unblended lots, which I was unable to taste. Francois Millet notes that skin-to-juice ratios this year were as formidably high as those of 2003, yet thanks to relatively mild temperatures, the fruit retained what he terms a “sorbet-like presentation.” Dreyfus Ashby, New York, NY; tel. (212) 818-0770 and a Peter Vezan Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011 33 1 42 55 42 93
JancisRobinson.com 19
Dark crimson. Brilliant energy and drive. Sharp and linear – I’m sure winemaker François Millet has a sonnet to describe the character of this wine – and bursting with fruit. Just starting to drink well. Extremely rich and sweet with some black cherry aspects to it. Very winning. Enjoyed at a dinner in the Adelaide Hills. Perhaps its journey across the equator had brought it on?
Anticipated maturity: 2015-2035
