Burgundy 2005: The Dark Beauties of a Luminous Vintage - Part 1 by The Wine Advocate

Two thousand five is one of Burgundy's great red wine vintages. It was the finest fruit we had seen since 1999, commented Aubert de Villaine, and indeed many growers drew a similar comparison. Between 1999 and 2002 in character was how Eric Rousseau and several others described the young wines, but hastened to add that 2005 was superior. Like a purer, brighter, more seamlessly ripe and structurally refined version of 1999" would be an accurate composite description based on the response of those vignerons who hazarded a comparison at all. But not a few stated that this was a vintage of unprecedented quality, as fine a one as they had ever experienced. I share that view from my 25 years of experience with young Burgundy.

What explains the quality? As Etienne Grivot put it, 2005 demonstrated that luminosity, not heat is what Pinot Noir craves, and that gradual ripening is the ideal. Mature vines in all but the fastest-draining and/or thinnest soils continued to demonstrate their resilience to persistent drought (more of a problem for the Cote de Beaune than the Cote de Nuits, and one whose long-term effects cannot be known). But whereas extremely dry vintages (such as 1976 or 2003) are also generally hot, in 2005 a pattern of balmy summer days with cool nights provided for full ripeness of flavor without excessive potential alcohol and with excellent retention of ripe acidity. Rain briefly and sporadically arrived the first week in September just enough, in fact, to give the parched vines one last push. Growers could harvest late and leisurely, but many were ready to begin picking as soon as the official gun was sounded in mid-September, if not before. This sunshine and leisure combined to optimize ripeness and flavor in every single parcel, including grapes of mere Bourgogne appellation which are routinely left for last as low priorities and thus often receive the brunt of really hot years (when they may get picked past their prime) or of inclement autumn weather (which forces growers to pick them rotten or unripe). And given the price of Burgundy today (about which more below) every pinotphile has reason to root for ripeness in the realm of ostensibly lesser-vineyards! The type of rigorous triage that has become so important a guarantor of quality and a badge of honor among Burgundian vignerons in the past fifteen years would have been overkill in 2005. You could fall asleep at the sorting table this year watching the grapes go by, remarked Etienne Grivot.

There was a lot of millerandage in 2005; tiny, concentrated, often pip-less shot berries imperfections in pollination from an evolutionary standpoint, but fantastic for a winemaker, and nearly always a feature of great vintages. First off, the formation of significant numbers of these adds to the space available in the cluster for air circulation and sun penetration, keeping the fruit dry and ripening. Secondly, they represent little bundles of flavor concentration, whose high sugar is released late in fermentation and in 2005 rendered unnecessary the sort of minute chaptalization in which most vintners otherwise engage so as to prolong alcoholic extraction. Despite the fact that a majority of growers nowadays de-stem their fruit, although in 2005 it wasn't just self-styled traditionalists who fermented whole clusters, others experimented too shot berries are bound to emerge uncrushed and operate like little time capsules.

Faced with thick-skinned fruit of perfect ripeness, free of rot and full of tiny berries, a majority of growers backed off on extraction, some even approaching the virtual absence of punch-downs that characterized their approach to the near-raisined fruit of 2003. But a few growers took the opposite approach, believing it would be a shame not to extract the maximum from grapes this good. Time may tell whether one approach or the other was more conducive to success. Fermentations started slowly due to cool weather, so that most wines effectively experienced four or five days of cold soak, during which color and perfume are extracted in the absence of alcohol without the need for recourse to dry ice or sulfur.

Thierry Brouin of Domaine des Lambrays summed up 2005 this way: No problem harvesting, no problem fermenting, no problem with malolactic, no problem with the elevage, and no problem selling! With regard to malolactic fermentation though, for most growers this took place with virtually unprecedented lateness and protraction, so much so that many wines only finished late last year. A half-dozen wines at four addresses I visited in late February and the majority of wines at two other addresses were still in active, if sluggish, malo. It was consequently very difficult to draw a bead on the personality of the 2005 reds until recently (although, that they were top-quality was clear from early on), and if one measures in units of time spent out from under a naturally protective postprandial blanket of CO2, many of the 2005s are exceedingly young, and taste it. Even in February, the presence of so much residual carbon dioxide in many wines tasted from cask was bound to subtly enhance the perception of acidity.

The personality of wines from this luminous, gloriously healthy and ripe vintage is positively kinetic, but decidedly on the dark side of the flavor spectrum. Fresh, sometimes faintly tart black fruits, overt and at times almost austerely mineral flavors, and mysterious, at times brooding forest floor complexities are the norm. Many of the best Pinots of 2005 push the limit of ripeness consistent with freshness, and the limit of sheer density consistent with elegance. Firm, fine tannins are never far from the surface, even where these Pinots youthful textures are already silken or creamy. These wines will need time in the bottle to show their true colors, and most of them should be expected to shut down for an extended period soon after bottling. While there are naturally exceptions, if you seek flamboyant, extroverted, overtly sweet Pinots with youthfully come-hither sex appeal and luxuriant folds of fruit that can be enjoyed any time over the next five years, then these are not the wines for you – and the rest of us would appreciate your not rendering it yet more difficult to acquire them! (The crop size was normal at most domaines; it just doesn't seem that way due to demand.)

Pricing, Supply and Value

Given evidence acquired in my recently concluded capacity as a merchant, and based on my having posed the question of price to at least half of the proprietors whom I visited, I can confidently offer the following generalization about the pricing of red Burgundies from the 2005 vintage. Increases ex cellar were generally in the zero (yes, there were some of these!) to 15% range vis a vis the extremely small and for that reason unprecedentedly high-priced 2003s, which is to say roughly 10 to 25% vis a vis 2004. Add in a premium (if you're American) for the additional deterioration of the dollar. Then add increased mark-ups by brokers, courtiers, importers, distributors and retailers trying to capitalize on a good vintage and/or to make up for losses being incurred in seeking a ready market for 2004s (in a climate where egouge or dump; bipolar disorder is afflicting far too many merchants than can possibly be to the ultimate benefit of consumers) and one arrives at what are widely and understandably viewed as shockingly steep increases.

The above said, the situation could easily be worse. Just suppose one took the prices of 2005 vintage cru class Bordeaux produced in the tens of thousands of cases per chateau, as a base line, and then tried to factor in the relative scarcity of wines frequently produced in quantities of 250 cases or fewer. An argument could in fact be made that Burgundy lovers are spared the sort of market forces that normally apply, and certainly apply in Bordeaux, where a critical mass and market mechanisms permit specific wines to trade as commodities. To take but one example of Burgundy's peculiarity, the proportion (if any) of wine that goes directly into the private cellars of the domaine, or that is skimmed off by an importer for personal consumption becomes a significant factor when dealing, as we so often are, here with total production in the 25 - 250 case range, whereas there is scarcely another category of wine (save perhaps nobly sweet German Riesling or a few Cabernet- and garage-based wines) where such factors are relevant. If only a few barrels of a wine were produced, I have frequently noted the total production to give readers a sense of perspective on Burgundy as well as on their possibly frustrating attempts to acquire any given wine whose description and rating they found enticing. To set one's heart on acquiring any particular red Burgundy armed only with the evidence contained in my review is apt more often than not to be futile. But start with a large enough wish-list, cultivate a relationship with a trustworthy merchant, and chances are you will be rewarded. Despite what might seem like daunting odds, the number of importers whose fidelity to the domaines they represent results in a strict but fair proportion of Burgundy's scarcest wines being offered to the same correspondingly faithful distributors, retailers, restaurateurs, and private clients vintage after vintage is by no means tiny.

Most importantly for the consumer's odds of scoring gems, there have never before been so many different outstanding red Burgundies in the marketplace as exist today. The sources of new quality are numerous. More and more small domaines have been incorporated over the past decade from family holdings, and more and more well-established domaines become seriously quality-conscious, whether out of inspiration or survival instinct. A new breed of negociants, the likes of Dominique Laurent, Frederic Magnien, Philippe Pacalet, and Nicolas Potel is rising, following paths first blazed by such specialized, and hands-on white wine negociants as Jean-Marie Guffens (Verget) and Oliver Leflaive. An increasing number of estates (Dujac, Germain, Mao-Camuzet, de Montille, both branches of Liger-Belair ... the list keeps growing) are adding negociant bottlings parallel to their estate line-ups. And a few of the most powerful and well-known negociants are not only flexing their muscle in the marketplace but also achieving new standards of attention to detail and increasingly effective p.r., i.e producing results. There is also a significant amount of barrel-selection and micro-managing of élevage taking place in Burgundian cellars at the behest of American importers, some of whom double as retailers, and some of whom service localized markets. I have tried to avoid reviewing small lots specific to regional importers, but their numbers further swell the ranks of red Burgundy available today stateside from relatively recently emerging sources.

Furthermore, there are still excellent values to be found in Burgundy. This is particularly true in 2005 when quality – thanks to the opportunity afforded to leisurely harvest fruit at optimum ripeness – runs deep. Some generic wines offer the distinctiveness and intensity usually reserved for wines of villages level, and village wines routinely perform at what would normally be considered 1er cru level. Appellation Bourgogne from many of the Cote d'Or's top domaines offers a rather obvious source of excellent value in other years as well, although unfortunately such bottlings are often as scarce as those from more celebrated terroir. (Just try latching onto a bottle of Bourgogne from Mugneret-Gibourg or Coche-Dury and you’ll come face-to-face with this inconvenient fact.) A more accessible source of value is Pinot or Chardonnay from the numerous growers located in less-renowned villages – including those of the Côte Chalonnaise (Givry, Mercurey, Montagny and Rully) – who are trying hard and succeeding slowly in overcoming terroir snobbism and prejudice. Readers will note that I have included many such sources in this report, and as time permits me increased opportunity for detective work and net-casting, I hope to ferret out additional ones.

Most, but not all growers had set their prices by March and most wines should arrive in the United States by late autumn. Due to the heated demand for this vintage, many merchants are asking consumers to pay for them in advance of arrival. Bear in mind however that a far greater number of pitfalls lie in the way of consummating such orders than is the case with Bordeaux. Merchants virtually never actually own these wines en primeur – at best they have allocations or promissory notes and may or may not have contracts on the currency. Burgundian Pinot Noirs are inherently fragile, so make sure you know how your purchases will be or have been shipped (refrigerated and insulated, never allowed to warm beyond a cool room temperature for even a short period and never rattled around on rail cars). And because of the quantities produced, small errors, miscalculations, or damaged goods can spell the difference between getting or not getting a few precious bottles of any given wine. (There is always wine from classified Bordeaux châteaux in the marketplace with which to make up for shortages – not so red Burgundy.) Happily, there are many reputable merchants faithful to their suppliers and their customers, some of whom demand payment only when ready to deliver. And there are a few importers such as Neal Rosenthal and individual growers such as Romanée-Conti, Roty or Rousseau who will not offer or ship their 2005s until late this year or early 2008. Please bear in mind that all suggested retail prices listed in this report must be taken as very approximate. On the one hand, volatility of currency could drive prices up between now and delivery. On the other hand, where suggested retail prices are supplied by agents, these have usually been calculated with three 3-5 sets of hands or tiers between the vintner and the consumer, and so represent a high-end scenario.




— Robert Parker