2005 Savigny Les Beaune Les Vergelesses La Bataillere

Bright red-ruby. Liqueur-like black fruits and mint on the nose. Lush, supple and sweet; quite outsized and powerful for this cuvee This has terrific fruit and very good density. Finishes with big, broad tannins. This reminded me of a fresher version of a 2003. For his part, Geoffrey Choppin de Janvry said that he had perfect grapes in 2005. "I'm young, but I can compare 2005 to 2002," he told me.

The Morot 2005 Savigny-les-Beaune Vergelesses La Bataillere offers attractively ripe black currant and black raspberry aromas with notes of birch beer and chocolate impinging on the palate. Solid and substantial in feel, it finishes with black fruit and peat, but is a bit drying, probably a function of its having just been sulfured and assembled for bottling. Geoffrey Choppin de Janvry reports that vine stress was becoming an issue in mid-September, so he picked his crop in just a few days. And speaking of haste, new stainless steel fermenters that replace the old wooden uprights here this year permitted Choppin to assemble and bottle all of his wines at nearly the same time, with the result that those I tasted had all either just been bottled or just prepped for imminent bottling. Around 50% new wood was employed, regardless of appellation, with the result that some wines showed overt oakiness and some did not. Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 832-9083