2005 Chambolle-Musigny Village

September of 2006 was "electric, with windy, agitated weather," said enologist Francois Millet, "and yet the wines are serene. They are deeply seductive, but it's not a superficial seductiveness. You feel comfortable with this vintage, like with a good friend. The wines have a jellied fruit quality, with fresh acidity and very good energy. With 2005, in contrast, it's more of a power struggle. There's a sense of contained power in the 2005s, but does the terroir speak as clearly in these wines as in the '06s?" Millet had just racked the 2006s for the second time when I stopped by to taste. (Dreyfus-Ashby, New York, NY; Ideal Wines & Spirits, Medford, MA; Barrique Wines, Chicago, IL; Chambers Chambers, San Francisco, CA; The Wine Company, Minneapolis, MN)

"The growing season offered very good but dry conditions," noted enologist Francois Millet. "There was high skin ripeness and the drought decreased the amount of juice. In fact, we had even less juice than in 2003, but the fruit retained acidity because the summer was much less hot. The acidity gives a sorbet character to the fruit. It's a very floral vintage. There's a lot of fruit but the vintage is based on structure. It's a bit of a prude as a vintage: the wines are essentially serious." Millet destems but doesn't crush the grapes. And he doesn't like to vinify with whole clusters because he's afraid of "standardizing the wines." (Dreyfus-Ashby, New York, NY; Ideal Wines, Medford, MA; Barrique Wines, Chicago, IL; Chambers & Chambers, San Francisco, CA; The Wine Company, Minneapolis, MN, Vintner Select, Cincinnati, OH)