In bottle for only ten days, the 2005 Beaune Greves offers bright, fresh black raspberry aromas backed by floral and crushed stone suggestions. It manifests excellent intensity and brightness, a very active personality, and a stark contrast with the sweet, creamy richness of the Clos de la Figuine. There is a flattering glyceral component but the fruit is crystal clear and transparent, and a shimmering complexity of mineral and floral nuances comes through despite a slight perturbation from the recent bottling. Nearly all bottlings from this negociant – on an upward path since the influx of Rodet capital in the early ‘90s – in fact originate in the Domaine Jacques Prieur. Martin Prieur and his team have striven to capture purity of fruit through gentle extraction, although for my taste I found some of their 2005s overly confectionary due to the influence of toasty new wood on already very sweetly ripe raw material. After malo – which was generally quite late here this year – the wines were sulfured but not yet racked.Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700.

This wine is medium-to-dark ruby-colored, offers a nose of violets and perfume, and has very masculine character with tangy metallic black fruit flavors. Medium-bodied and structured, this wine will be at its best if drunk over the next 3-4 years.Martin Prieur and his team took control of its parcel of Beaune Greves only 21 days prior to the 1996 harvest. They therefore had to cope with the results of the previous tenant's viticultural work. According to Prieur, a severe 20% saignee (bleeding of the tanks) was required to give the wine some depth.Importers: William Deutsch and Sons, Ltd., Armonk, NY; tel (914) 273-1221; fax (914) 273-1291, and Winesellers Ltd., Skokie, IL; tel (847) 679-0121; fax (847) 679-2017.