The 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. Importer: Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel. (212) 419-1400.

The 2005 Chambolle-Musigny Les Cras 1er Cru has a precocious, intense nose cut from a similar cloth to the 2009, dishing out red cherry and crushed strawberry fruit, kirsch and blood oranges. There is an underlying creamy scent that just feels slightly incongruous, maybe a touch of warmth? The palate is medium-bodied with saturated tannins, darker fruit than its peers though well-defined and focused from start to finish. Like many 2005s, there is real backbone and grip to the wine that perhaps detracts from the finesse it might have had. More impressive rather than astoundingly delicious. Tasted blind at the Roumier Les Cras vertical at Medlar, London.

Good bright, dark red-ruby color. Reticent but pure aromas of wild small red berries, minerals and underbrush. Dense and sappy, with lovely lift to its captivating flavors of cherry, raspberry, blood orange and minerals. Distinctly more vivid than the Combottes, with firmer, more granular, building tannins and more inner-palate tension. But this wine will need a good four or five years of bottle aging.