The 2005 Romanée-St. Vivant is both incredibly aromatic and vibrant, but, then again, it is Romanée-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. Drinking window: 2020-2055 (Antonio Galloni, Nov 2014, 97 Pts)
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 & 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, & bitter-sweet florality, but simultaneously delivers a vibratory finish like that of the energetic Grands-Echezeaux. With its palpable extract, profound personality, & 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. (David Schildnecht, The Wine Advocate#170, Apr 2007, 96-97 Pts)
Deep red-ruby. Multidimensional nose combines blackberry, violet and minerals with exotic spices, earth and underbrush. Then juicy and gripping in the mouth, combining outstanding density and a distinctly light touch. This, too, boasts superb energy and sappiness to its flavors of red fruits, spices and earth. Wonderfully complex already but youthfully tight, firmly structured and built for a long and slow evolution in bottle. The tannins are solid but not hard. A great vintage for this cuvee and likely to evolve for two or three decades, at a minimum. (Stephen Tanzer, Mar 2008, 95+ Pts)
