2005 Domaine Louis Jadot, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

Good deep ruby-red color. Pungent aromas of blackberry, blueberry, mocha and brown spices, with a brooding medicinal quality. Fat, chewy, dense and primary, with an impression of sappiness to its flavors of dark fruit liqueur and chocolate. Wonderfully sweet wine with superb palate-saturating persistence. The notes of mocha and brown spice recur on the back end. This will go on in bottle for a couple of decades, at least.

Meaty and alkaline notes mingle with the more typical brambly black raspberry, horehound and concentrated herbal side of the Jadot 2005 Bonnes Mares. Intense, pungent berry and herb concentration along with underbrush on the palate lead me to imagine that the thorns will draw blood. The hugely concentrated, torrential finish preserves a very tart berry freshness, medicinal herbal pungency, black tea bitterness, and deep meatiness. This is neither for the faint of heart nor for those seeking comfort or charm. Lock it up for 12-15 years. Jacques Lardiere has once again presided over a collection for the most part not intended to flatter in its youth, but rather to achieve an eventual balance of fruit acidity with (in this instance frequently quite prominent) tannin. Prolonged post-fermentative extraction promoted a formidably-structured group of wines, which Lardiere expressed no hurry about bottling. Certain of these – particularly from the Cote de Beaune – displayed a slightly drying finishing astringency or simply an austere lack of charm to match their concentration, traits Lardiere suggested might be traceable to drought stress in those sites. A brief July rain that reached the Cote de Nuits but not the Cote de Beaune was critical, he asserts, and all of Jadot’s vines in the northern Cote were picked before the harvest in the south commenced. (Wines from the Domaine Louis Jadot, Domaine Heritiers Louis Jadot, or Domaine Gagey, have been identified with a letter “D” in their listings.) Also recommended: 2005 Cote de Nuits-Villages Le Vaucrain ($25.00;86+?), 2005 Santenay Clos de Malte ($27.00; 85-87), 2005 Savigny-les-Beaune Aux Guettes (84-86+?), 2005 Nuits-St.-Georges ($37.00; 85-87+?), 2005 Chambolle-Musigny ($50.00; 85-87+?). Importer: Kobrand, Inc., New York, NY; tel.(212) 490 9300

Mid crimson. Sweet and rich on the nose. Ripe cherry fruit with a firm sandpaper finish. Meaty and solid and convincing. Very good terroir expression. Bone dry finish but crackling energy. (JR)