The Domaine Dujac 2005 Morey-St.-Denis – incorporating the Les Porroux vineyard around the winery – soars from the glass with odors of incense, bitter-sweet black cherry, musky florality, a Chartreuse-like aura of herbal distillates, and wood smoke pungency. In the mouth, the black cherry and cassis fruit runs really deep, persistently wreathed in herbs and flowers, with satisfying hints of fruit skin bitterness and bitter chocolate and herb low tones. Already the texture is silken. The finish – while not overly candified in character – reminds me of sucking on fruit and herbal lozenges whose bittersweet residues cling tenaciously to the palate. How much better quality can one ask of a village wine?
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