Wine Advisor
Domaine Dujac, Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes 2005
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Good deep, bright red. Liqueur-like aromas of maraschino cherry, mint and soy sauce. Suave on entry, then tangy in the middle palate, offering complex flavors of red fruits, spices and mint. Finishes with a serious tannic spine that gives this wine a youthful austerity. I find a captivating savory character reminiscent of mushroom umami from the nose straight through to the aftertaste. Lay this one down for at least six or seven years.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Bright red-ruby. Complex nose offers black raspberry, mocha and meat, plus a mineral austerity. Big, broad and weighty but with excellent precision of flavor. Not at all a sweet style. Finishes backward and medicinal, with firm tannins and a mineral and licorice austerity. Likely to age slowly and well.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
A complex, intellectual nose with touches of intense red-berried fruits with earth, sous-bois and pain grille. The palate is closed at first, but eventually its masculine character emerges, austere, broody with a very grippy finish. Surly little bastard at the moment, but it will repay 5-6 years cellaring. Patience please! Drink 2015-2025. Tasted February 2008.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
This has a sleek, almost lean cherry-scented nose with a touch of cut grass. Yet the delineation is superb and belies a tannic, masculine, structured palate with superb focus and definition. Very harmonious and suave, this wine has a nice crescendo, building towards a fleshy strawberry-flavoured finish. Excellent. Drinking 2010-2018. Tasted January 2007.
Reviewed by: David Schildknecht
The 2005 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Combottes offers intense, bitter-sweet cherry aromatics reminiscent of this year’s Morey 1er Cru, but they are backed by licorice, roasted meat and woody, resinous notes. Full and rich in initial impression on the palate, it displays a rather austere and faintly woody, though undeniably serious and long finish today. Could this simply need more time to recover from bottling? The already rich array of crus at Domaine Dujac has recently been augmented on two fronts. The purchase (along with de Montille) of the Societe Civile du Clos de Thorey (Thomas-Moillard) has brought them a raft of choice parcels including three new grand cru holdings (for a staggering total of eight). Meanwhile, they have expanded their negociant arm (with control over harvest and green harvest a prerequisite) to supplement in particular their volumes of village-level wine. (Those wines – labeled “Dujac Fils & Pere” – are signified in the above listing with “FP”. In fact, due to a legal technicality, the 2005 vintage wines from the properties newly acquired by the domaine – but not subsequent vintages – will also read “Fils & Pere” rather than “Domaine”.) Even with California-trained oenologist Diana Seysses (nee Snowden) joining her husband Jeremy and in-laws Jacques and Alec, and with a new winery (though at the old address) I wonder at how they are able to keep up with the magnitude of their responsibilities. Yet despite so many parcels and vines new to them this year, the results are consistently outstanding and at times astounding. Much of the vinification – increasingly as one goes up the hierarchy of crus – was of whole clusters. Malos finished (finally) by November and the wines were bottle in December and January. Importer: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel.(415) 491 4724
About the Producer
Domaine Dujac is managed by the Seysses family. It was founded in 1967 by Jacque Seyesses. At the beginning, Château Dujac had only 4.5 hectares of vineyards in Morey-Saint-Denis. The vineyards were expanded with the purchase of Echezeaux, Bonnes MaresChambertin, Romanee St Vivant and Vosene-Romanee. The estate also owns 1.95 hectares of vineyards in the Clos de la Roche, where the vines are on average 45 to 50 years old. The estate also has 1.45 hectares of vineyards in Clos Saint-Denis, with vines of an average age of 45 to 50 years. In 2005, Château Dujac, together with Chateau de Puligny-Montrachet, acquired Domaine Charles Thomas, acquiring Charles Thomas' shares in the vineyards of Chambertin, Vosne- Romanee and other vineyards. However, the estate sold some of its vineyards after the purchase in order to finance the purchase. However, this acquisition allowed the estate to expand to around 15.5 hectares. Under Jacques' leadership, Château Dujac has developed very well. The grapes were pressed whole and the must was fermented in new oak barrels, and in 1999, when Jacques handed over the running of the estate to his son, the way the estate was made changed dramatically: the grapes were sometimes destemmed and the barrels used for fermentation were probably only 25% new oak. However, the estate's Grand Cru wines are still matured in new oak barrels, while the Grand Cru wines are matured in 60% to 80% new oak barrels. Bottling usually takes place in February or March of the following year. The estate produces around 4,650 bottles/hectare of wine.
1999(2)2002(1)
Package Size
1 x 75cl
