A subtle trace of wood frames the bright red pinot fruit and naturally spicy nose that is extremely fresh and this sense of vibrancy and freshness suffuses the rich, round and even more powerful lithe and tautly shaped flavors replete with the same energy and precision of the Ruchottes, all wrapped in a stony and perfectly balanced finish that seems to have no end. A stunning wine that should age for years and this is potentially the best CSJ that I have seen in the last 20 years. Tasted: Jan 01, 2008 Score: 94 Drink: 2017+ Issue 29 Allen Meadows; Burghound

Charles Rousseau's son Eric, who makes the wines, calls 2005 "an easy vintage. It was never very hot but there were certainly periods of sustained warm weather with relatively cool evenings that permitted uniform ripening and good acid retention. It was clear that there was an abundant fruit set so we dropped a lot of bunches through a green harvest. The harvest was exceptional as it was super clean with no rot or under ripe berries, which is to say that we had unusually good uniformity within the bunches. It was even cleaner than 2002 so the sorting table workers really didn't have much to do. There was essentially no sorting work and even with the generous yields, we had excellent sugars that ranged from 12.5 to 13.1%. The skins were thick and there was an impressively high solid to liquid ratios for most wines. As such, we worked more with pump overs than punch downs over the 16 to 19 days of total cuvaison. In contrast to most other vintages, I used no new oak at all up through and including the Ruchottes though as usual, the Clos St. Jacques, Cham and Bèze saw 100% new wood. For us, 2005 produced more structured wines than in 2002 yet the balance is every bit as good, perhaps even better and I really like the sense of harmony the wines have already." As the commentaries suggest, the Rousseau '05s are terrific but as good as they are, the '04s are perhaps even better in terms of their relative quality to the limitations of the 2004 vintage. The present plan is to bottle as usual in July though some of the lower level wines might be bottled in May, depending on how the fruit matures.