Difficult following the heady heights of Reignots and Suchots, nevertheless this is still a great wine. Again there is amazing clarity and delineation on the nose with wild strawberry, perhaps a little more tertiary than others. The palate has well integrated tannin, but what makes this wine special is the crescendo: understated on the entry but building in intensity (as long as you do not do something rash…like swallow it.) Silky texture with notes of raspberry and wild strawberry, incredible poise on the finish that perhaps lacks just a little depth and persistency. Still a class act. Drinking 2010-2020. Tasted January 2007.

This is developping beautifully if glacially with its spicy red and black pinot fruit aromas that remain largely if not completely primary in character. There is excellent richness on the attractively textured and refined middle weight flavors that are laced with an almost pungent minerality on the balanced and moderately firm tannic finale. I very much like the overall sense of complexity and while this is approachable now it seems quite clear that there is still at least some upside development potential remaining and to that end I would suggest that another 4 to 7 years of bottle age would be advisable. In a word, lovely.

– Burghound.com. Tasted: Mar 2016

The 2005 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru En Orveaux from Sylvain Cathiard is a lavish, dramatically ripe wine that soars from the glass with a decadent bouquet of cherries, blackberry preserve, cassis and dark chocolate, framed by oak vanillin. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, powerful and ample, with a generous core of sweet fruit, fine-grained structuring tannins and sufficient succulent acidity to remain in balance despite its ripeness. Inevitably, this begs the question of to what extent it's a precursor of Cathiard's 2015s: my supposition is the younger vintage will be more precise and controlled at maturity, its oak influence more completely integrated, while retaining the exuberant expression of fruit found in the 2005s. Of course, only time will tell.

(from 62-year-old vines) Good bright, dark red. Highly perfumed nose offers cherry, minerals and dark chocolate; this has lift! Sweet and tangy in the mouth, with lovely ripe acidity giving structure and shape to the intense red berry flavors. Tightly wound, very bright wine with the structure to age.

From 60-year-old vines high up above Echezeaux, the Cathiard 2005 Vosne-Romanee En Orveaux is the most austere wine on this occasion, with a chalky mineral character and bright but slightly tart red fruit marked by candied and caramelized inflections and a considerable evidence of new wood. Smoked meat character emerges beneath the alternating bright and caramelized black fruits in the finish. Not that this wine is entirely unimpressive – far from it – but could it just be having a bad day, I wonder? Also recommended: 2005 Bourgogne ($39.00;85). A Becky Wassserman Selection (various importers), Le Serbet, Beaune; fax 011-33-3-80-24-29-70

Really rich and sweet and round and drinking beautifully now. (JR)