Bouchard started acquiring land in Teurons in 1791, completing the process in 1869. Not the heaviest or showiest of the wines tasted, this is precise and restrained. Still needs a little longer to reach its peak. Oak a little more evident. Attractive wild strawberry and blackberry fruit. Plenty of concentration with a freshness and vibrancy. A very fine example of the merits of 2005.

The Bouchard 2005 Beaune Teurons offers aromas and sweet-tart flavors of rhubarb and cherry mingled with brown spices toasted nuts and what I take to be site-typical smokiness. With invigorating bright fruit pungent spice and smokiness and lots of sap and grip this acquits itself well now and should reward at least 6-8 years of cellaring. Managing director Stephane Follin and cellar master Philippe Prost preside over a remarkable new gravity-fed winemaking facility capable of handling the fruits of Bouchard's 130 hectares of vines â_" Burgundy's largest estate (with 84 hectares in premier and grand crus alone) â_" not to mention the enormous range of wine from purchased fruit or wines. Fully 40% of the reds are vinified in open-top fermenters with manual punch-downs (the balance in a battery of roto-fermentors) and the system of traffic control alone that must be in place during crush is hard to imagine. The underground acreage devoted to barriques similarly defies imagination â_" until one sees it. Prost was very cautious with pigeage this year but incorporated a significant percentage of whole clusters with stems in many of his better lots. A reputation for improved quality is being built here to which the results of 2005 will certainly contribute.