2005 Chambolle Musigny Les Fuees

The 2005 Chambolle-Musigny Les Fuees returns to a fresh fruit expression of black raspberry, supplemented by notes of ginger, white pepper and wood smoke. Expansive on the palate, bright in fruit and full of fine-grained tannin, this offers an impressively long, incisive finish of fresh black fruits coupled with resin and chalk, in complete stylistic contrast with the Charmes. This needs 3-5 years before opening and should age positively for a dozen. Here, too (as with the Chatelots) there will only be just over 100 cases. Sharing expanded wine-making facilities with her husband, Louis Boillot, Gislaine Barthod continues to render some of the purest, most expressively fruity and consistently excellent as well as ageworthy Pinots in Burgundy. All but the Bourgogne and village Chambolle – recently assembled in tank – were tasted from barrel. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990.

Bright, deep ruby-red. Musky, complex aromas of black raspberry and crushed stone. Suave and silky on entry, then quite tight in the middle, but with terrific lift and energy. Highly concentrated but quite closed today, with a strong tannic structure and a chewy, very persistent back end. This is built for long life but will require at least five or six years of aging. Barthod noted that the wine's fruit and minerality were "in opposition at the beginning."