Chambolle Musigny Les Cras, Domaine Georges & Christophe Roumier 2005

This is a stunning "Les Cras" from Christophe. Very closed on the nose at first, but with vigorous aeration reveals a delicate, floral almost peach-scented nose. The palate is utterly harmonious with brilliant delineation and purity. Feminine personality but with a tannic heart, very focused with great penetration on the stony finish. A fantastic wine that should last many years. Drinking 2010-2020. Tasted January 2007.

he 2005 Chambolle-Musigny Les Cras smells of ripe blackberry, raspberry, forest floor and chalk dust. A polished, creamy, yet palpably chalky and brightly fresh-fruited palate offers a sumptuous saturation of black and red fruits with inner-mouth aromatic accents of cherry pit, pistachio, flowers and citrus zest. This shows wonderful primary fruit intensity and energy, exciting length, and the promise of continued poise and polish for at least another 10-12 years. One senses that Christophe Roumier considers 2005 a high point of his career, and my visit with him was among the high points of my recent trip. He describes this as "a classic vintage lending itself to very calm, classic vinification," which given the opportunities afforded by perfectly healthy, firm, dry, ripe fruit involved triage almost solely to remove ladybugs, and included around 25% whole clusters in the fermenters at the Premier Cru level and 50% at that of Grand Cru.