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($1300) Deep ruby-red. Superripe aromas of cherry, currant, tobacco and smoky, nutty oak, with traces of vanilla and sweet butter; showing less of the early treble notes of flowers and spices than usual for La Tache but they are lurking in the background. Then wonderfully supple, silky and sweet, conveying an impression of brooding extract; quite large-scaled for young La Tache but not yet differentiated. This showed an increasingly tactile quality with aeration but remained rather monolithic. Finishes with wonderfully broad, ripe tannins. This, too, appears to be shutting down but all the elements are in place to make a monumental bottle.

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This was already drinking absolutely beautifully, even though presumably it will gain layers and even greater complexity. But what a stunning amount of pleasure it is giving even at this early stage! My verbatim notes: Gorgeous, complete, wonderful pure cherry juice flavours even though it will presumably close down. Already dense and layered but with beautiful freshness. 'Parp. Parp,' it seems to be saying, so eager is it to broadcast its charms.

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The 2005 La Tache epitomizes the unique mysteries of Pinot (not to mention the character of a great site), with its aromas of game, musk, iris, star anise, vanilla, allspice, and naturally also an abundance of sweet, ripe, implosively tiny-berried fruit. Imagine a black Riesling. On the palate, a vivid freshness of fruit, pungency of spice and flowers, and melting away of what in point of analytical fact are abundant tannins, all engender an almost white wine dynamic of fruit-mineral call-and-response and clear, incisive penetration of flavors to every recess of the mouth. This is a T.R. sort of wine - you just don't feel the stick. Once the grapes in these fabled vineyards had reached a potential alcohol of 13%, reports Aubert de Villaine, he was ready to pick, because conditions had seldom been so conducive to perfect ripeness (including that of the stems). It was all done in a week, commencing with La Tache and Romanee Conti, and finishing on September 23 with Romanee-St.-Vivant (and Montrachet, on which I shall report at a future date). De Villaine intended to bottle in March or April by gravity in six-barrel lots, as has become general practice here over the past decade.

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A dark side emerges with La Tâche, revealing profound scents of violet, black currant, bilberry and licorice. Definitely meaty and solid'as the French would say, carrée (square)'yet with great depth, richness and length, along with sweet fruit. A fabulous La Tâche, like a well-tuned Ferrari, this is a red Burgundy of classic proportions.'Non-blind 2005 DRC tasting (February 2008).

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