Tasting Notes
Vinous 97
The 2005 Romanee-St. Vivant is both incredibly aromatic and vibrant, but, then again, it is Romanee-St. Vivant. Here, the impression is of pure verticality and towering structure. A bit darker and more brooding than RSV often is, the 2005 is a wine built for cellaring. Perhaps because it is the first wine I tasted from the domaine, I have always had a weak spot for the RSV. The 2005 is magnificent, but it is also a wine for those who can be patient.
Anticipated maturity: 2020-2055
Robert Parker 97
Just as this year’s Echezeaux challenges the quality of the Grands-Echezeaux, another surprise of the vintage is a spectacular showing for the 2005 Romanee-St.-Vivant. A startlingly dark, mouth-watering amalgam of purple plum paste, blackberry preserves, bitter chocolate, toasted walnut, soy, and raw beef intrigues the nose. On the palate, this cleaves to the dark side, with viscous, mouth-coating concentration of lightly-cooked black fruits, charred meat, mysterious forest floor complexity, and bitter-sweet florality, but simultaneously delivers a vibratory finish like that of the energetic Grands-Echezeaux. With its palpable extract, profound personality, and refined but abundant tannins, this is surely wine to set aside for at least a decade. Once the grapes in these fabled vineyards had reached a potential alcohol of 13%, reports Aubert de Villaine, he was ready to pick, because conditions had seldom been so conducive to perfect ripeness (including that of the stems). It was all done in a week, commencing with La Tache and Romanee Conti, and finishing on September 23 with Romanee-St.-Vivant (and Montrachet, on which I shall report at a future date). De Villaine intended to bottle in March or April by gravity in six-barrel lots, as has become general practice here over the past decade. Importer: Wilson-Daniels, St. Helena, CA; tel. (707) 963-9661.
Burghound 97
An incredibly perfumed and supremely elegant if notably ripe nose features notes of various black fruit scents that are replete with soy, hoisin, clove and anise nuances. There is outstanding power and richness to the refined, detailed and still quite firmly structured flavors that culminate in a precise, pure and driving finish that goes on and on. This is a really impressive effort that offers terrific potential but fans of this wine should note that it is arguably more masculine than it usually is yet at the same time utterly seamless. In sum this is arguably the finest RSV that the Domaine has ever produced though one that is indisputably going to require extended aging. Tasted twice in 2019 with similar notes.
