2005 Vosne Romanee Clos du Chateau Monopole

The 2005 Vosne-Romanee Clos du Chateau has a very intense bouquet of mineral-rich red berry fruit that is precise and focused, perhaps edging more toward premier cru in quality. Lovely blood orange scents begin to surface with five minutes aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with dark cherry and bergamot notes, hints of bay leaf littering the citric finish. This is actually better than I expected – still youthful and vital, a village cru that actually needs a decade in bottle. I will be covering Louis-Michel’s highly praised; elusive and expensive wines in future issues of The Wine Advocate. But for now, in October I attended a fascinating tasting of older vintages to glean how they age. Certainly, these wines are imbued with a citrus freshness that verges of sorbet-like with some wines. They clearly go out to impress and impress they do. What these wines refuse to do is short-change the Burgundy-lover apropos perfume or flavor; they willingly go out there to satisfy the senses. They also appear to age slowly and gracefully, and I suspect most of these will reach their plateau after around a decade in the cellar.

Monopole. Lively with some evolution on the nose. Closing up. Quite a lot of tannin closing in and acidity. Not sure I would immediately guess it was a 2005 if I were served it blind. A little angular. (JR)

Medium red, a bit pale for 2005. Wild, exotic aromas of plum, smoked meat, truffle and damp earth. Very sexy, broad and classically dry, with lovely depth and richness. Still youthfully restrained, but solid minerality gives this soil-inflected wine a freshness. Finishes with substantial dusty tannins and excellent length.