For me, this is far superior to the Charmes-Chambertin. The nose has a little more intensity and concentration with red cherries, blueberry and wet stones, all with great delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with incredibly purity and elegance, a real natural quality. Morello cherry, wild strawberry and minerals, still just a little pinched on the finish but the length is just amazing. Fabulous. Drinking 2010-2025. Tasted January 2007.

The 2005 Ruchottes-Chambertin is from rented vines. A nose of faintly-bitter black fruits, licorice, brown spices, and smoked meat ushers in a rich though firm, fine-grained palate exposition of blackberry, blueberry, licorice, savory meatiness, and wet stone, leading to a finish of formidable length, precocious polish and refinement, and pristine clarity of infectiously bright and invigorating fresh, tart berry fruit and saline minerality. 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.

Good deep, bright red. Urgent aromas of crushed dark fruits and white pepper; brilliantly delineated but extremely unevolved. Then wonderfully juicy and bright in the mouth, with complex mocha and game hints adding interest to the concentrated, sappy berry flavors. Dense, classically dry and thoroughly ripe grand cru that's still a bit closed in on itself. The very long, slow-mounting finish features substantial suave tannins and terrific underlying structure. This should evolve in bottle for at least a couple of decades.

This is also en metayage and was bought by a collector in 1977, the same time as Rousseau and Mugnier acquired their Ruchottes parcels. Very deep crimson with aromas of compost, game and damp leaves, Chewy, lively, not enormous weight but crackling taffeta texture. Quite airborne and ethereal. Lively and long. Roumier says he will bottle this one late. (JR)