Description
97 Antonio Galloni
The 2005 Clos de Tart Grand Cru, tasted from magnum (for some reason, it always seems to turn up in this format), is one of Sylvain Pitiot’s greatest successes. It was picked September 21 to September 24 (at 11am, to be exact). The yield was 27hl/ha with 14° alcohol. The precocity of the growing season seems to suit Pitiot’s winemaking style. Iridescent in color, the 2005 has a majestic, pure bouquet featuring layers of pulsating red berry fruit, wild strawberry and raspberry scents and an underlying mineralité that I suspect requires another decade to really surface above the fruit. The palate is extremely well balanced, with fine tannin, and beautifully poised, that crescendo still in place. This grand cru fans out with a sense of confidence, almost hubris, on the long finish. A towering achievement.
96 Points Allen Meadows
This hasn’t changed much from when I first reviewed it from bottle in 2007 though it has not shut down in the fashion of many ’05s at this point. An expressive and very ripe black berry fruit, spice, mocha, fresh coffee and earthy nose is surrounded by a more moderate touch of oak that continues onto the rich, full, concentrated, powerful and sweet flavors that possess superb mid-palate density and huge length. This is an extremely rich and concentrated wine that will live for ages and in fact, about the only thing that has changed is that it appears even more structured than I initially thought. In a word, fantastic.
19/20 Jancis Robinson
Very dark crimson. Meaty, concentrated, wonderfully intense nose that is still very expressive even if on the palate the wine is a little closed with quite tense tannins. Lovely sweet aromas and nicely braced for a glorious future. Still rather dry on the finish but I am very optimistic about this glorious wine – concentrated but expressive.