2005 Burgundy

The real story was the consistency here. Almost no failures to be found among the bunch of 05's that were poured from throughout the Cotes d'Or and Chalonnaise, although a couple of wines were just too tight to fully grasp at the moment. To this palate, the vintage hype is warranted, although the price shock comes close to counteracting that positive impression. Setting aside scores, the 2 wines that stood out in my memory most were the Pousse d'Or Santenay Clos Tavannes and the Drouhin Beaune Clos des Mouches. What they have in common is a transcendance of their relatively humble appellations, which as has been suggested is one of the themes of this vintage.

• 2005 Domaine Leflaive Mâcon-Verzé 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Mâconnais, Mâcon-Verzé

  Nose of pear and lime dust. Umami-ish entry leads to an almost-peppery yet gentle intensity.

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• 2005 Jean Noel Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Blanchots Dessus 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru

  Flowery and soily; rather ethereal for such an earthy wine. Citric intensity hits first in the mouth. This wine is tightly wrapped around its obvious structure, but the length bodes well for future development.

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• 2005 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Bourgogne Emotion de Terroirs 87 Points

  France, Burgundy, Bourgogne

  Medium violet with a red tinge. Leather and strawberry notes. Dry and mouthwatering, this is not dense but the total package is quite pleasant.

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• 2005 Nicolas Rossignol Bourgogne Cuvée L'Héritière 87 Points

  France, Burgundy, Bourgogne

  Medium dark garnet red. Gently, warmly spiced earth complementing the highly ripe fruit. Rich, but sadly falls off a tad at the end.

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• 2005 A. et P. de Villaine Mercurey Les Montots 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte Chalonnaise, Mercurey

  Bright medium violet. A slight (slight enough to be pleasant) bitter edge to the fresh cherry and mineral aromas. Strong acid spine and a decent finish. If it fills out it will be very nice.

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• 2005 Louis Latour Beaune 1er Cru Vignes Franches 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Beaune 1er Cru

  Medium violet red. Sweat, stones, and subtle earth. Lush and fairly sweet, with a gently gripping finish.

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• 2005 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Vergelesses 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru

  Dark red purple. Deeper-pitched earth and dark fruits on the nose. You can really wrap your tongue around this fruit here, but there's no overextraction whatsoever. Yummy Savigny.

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• 2005 La Pousse d'Or Santenay 1er Cru Clos Tavannes 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Santenay 1er Cru

  Medium dark red. High expressivity, with some oak spices complementing but not obstructing. Dry but mouthfilling, with an ephemeral animal notion. I like this a lot; "downright tasty" (Tanzer's description) is right on.

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• 2005 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Pommard 1er Cru Les Grands Épenots 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard 1er Cru

  Medium violet red. Soily but leaning toward the higher tones. Lively in the mouth; there's an impression of marked lightness and perhaps even a lack of flavor, but the structure is integrated in such a lovely way that this is hard to resist.

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• 2005 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches Rouge 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Beaune 1er Cru

  Bright medium red. Celeriac stands out on the very fresh nose that is pretty in a nuanced way. Fascinatingly delicate, yet this attacks with sneaky thrusts of flavor intensity, all ending in a lipsmacking finish.

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• 2005 Louis Latour Corton-Grancey 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru

  Medium light garnet. Cinnamon, caramel and exhaust notes here make this stand out from the rest. Spicy flavors too, although on the softer sdie.

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• 2005 Louis Jadot Marsannay 87 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Marsannay

  Medium light, dull red. Celery leaf and a slight manure character to the nose. More celery flavors at first, but then develops some sweetness as it develops. A good honest quaff.

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• 2005 Frédéric Magnien Côte de Nuits Villages Croix-Violette 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Côte de Nuits Villages

  Saturated, medium dark maroon red. Serious earth here with a vague animal suggestion. Lush and fairly dense, with a nice finish.

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• 2005 Domaine Chevillon-Chezeaux Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Bousselots 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru

  Medium red, bright and saturated. Insinuating fresh ripe fruit is the star here, with more ill-defined nuances. Peppery, grippy and rich. Finishes decently.

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• 2005 Frédéric Magnien Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Feusselottes 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru

  Saturated, medium dark violet-tinged red. Expressive and high-toned, with remarkably clean earthiness and tobacco. Spice is there on entry, and sweetness on the finish. This is big but a little fat for my tastes - others would easily rave about this more.

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• 2005 Domaine Robert Groffier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Sentiers 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru

  Medium dark red. Anise accents the sweet deep fruit. Powerfully ripe but never out of balance, this flaunts the ripeness of the vintage in a most attractive fashion.

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• 2005 Forey Père et Fils Vosne-Romanée

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée

  Dark violet purple. Tight, offering up dark fruits accented by licorice. Large-scaled and tannic, but oh so tight right now. Promising.

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• 2005 Bernard Serveau Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru Les Sorbets

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru

  Another terribly tight wine, showing some subtle celery character and a big palate presence.

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• 2005 Domaine Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin Mes Cinq Terroirs 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin

  Dark red violet. Spicy, barnyardy, and earthy, with concentrated fruit backing it all up. Sweet and rich but enlivened by spice, with a suggestion of candied plum.

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• 2005 Dominique Gallois Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Petits Cazetiers 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru

  Medium dark but dull violet. Relatively clean nose registers in the higher tones, but there's some sneakily intense fruit there as well. Bright and fun in the mouth, though not terribly long.

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