The 2005 Givry Clos de Cellier aux Moines is Joblot’s most ambitious wine – at least judging by new wood and extraction – but at least at this stage not his best. Salted plum and blackberry jam in the nose lead to a concentrated palate combining compressed plum and berry fruit with salt and resin, and leading to a smoky, salty, overtly oaky, concentratedly black-fruited , and relatively astringent finish. This maintains high marks for ripeness and concentration, and time (at least in theory) should witness the unclenching of its barrel staves and tannin. Jean-Marc Joblot says he is always seeking precisely what 2005 delivered – the best fruit of his thirty year career: concentrated, pure, its elements in equilibrium. He continues to rely on roto-fermentors and is unafraid of new wood. But the wines are not just well-concentrated. They are well-balanced and possessed of considerable refinement, once again proving that the best reds of the Cote Chalonaise deserve more serious attention than most Burgundy lovers or journalists accord them. Joblot was at pains to warn me that these wines were traumatized from recent bottling, although I can’t say I would have arrived at that conclusion from their performance. Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 832-9083