Bright, deep red-ruby. Wonderfully classy nose shows an almost liqueur-like quality to the aromas of black raspberry, cocoa powder and minerals. Like liquid silk in the mouth, and a step up in creamy richness from the preceding samples. Amazingly lush and classy wine with the fine-grained texture and suavity of a Romanee Saint-Vivant. Chocolatey in the middle palate, then wonderfully light and energetic on the mounting finish, combining a medicinal reserve with a captivating palate-coating sweetness. This one really leaves the taste buds aquiver. A heartbreaking wine, particular as it's not normally seen in the U.S. market. (At this point in our tasting, Grivot told me that the 2005s are his best vintage ever.)

Grivot’s 2005 Vosne-Romanee Les Suchots smells sweetly of ripe black raspberry and cassis with brown spices, offers an almost fat generosity of ripe fruit and rich texture on the palate, yet contrasts that with saline, chalky minerality and never loses its thread of fresh fruit acidity. The finish erupts with ripe fruit, flowers, and spice. This combines amplitude with energy. Grivot is certainly right to call it the most extroverted of his Vosne crus, adding “perhaps a little too much so,” but why should it hide its sex appeal? Etienne Grivot aimed this year for gentle extraction (essentially without pigeage), then watchful preservation of the freshness, subtleties and refinement inherent in near-perfect raw material. He performed some very light chaptalization to extend the fermentations. Given the health and natural concentration of his vinous raw material, he felt no need to sulfur or rack the wines until shortly prior to bottling (without filtration), which was the stage at which I tasted. Importer: Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel. (212) 419-1400.