Here the nose is an odd combination of moderate reduction yet the underlying fruit is really quite fresh. However the medium full flavors are vibrant pure and elegant with a gorgeous mouth feel to the beautifully balanced finish. As one would expect from a young Corton the overall impression is reserved but not taciturn with ample minerality and firm well-integrated structure. Drink: 2017+

The Prieur 2005 Corton Bressandes exudes intensely ripe blackberry and cassis just like its Clos des Santenots stablemate but offers additional suggestions of mineral as well as distinctively animal notes. Admirably bright and sweet it truly stains the palate. Even with the influx in its finish of meat and stony mineral underpinnings this remains a very flashy irrepressibly sweetly-fruited style of Corton with new wood playing a supporting but not obtrusive role. Prieur (and Rodet) oenologist Nadine Gublin vinified two lots of Clos Vougeot â_" one de-stemmed and one whole cluster (a method she thinks is particularly suited to the relatively clay-rich terroir of the Clos) â_" before blending them back again to enhance complexity. Nearly all bottlings from this negociant â_" on an upward path since the influx of Rodet capital in the early â_~90s â_" 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 â_" which was generally quite late here this year â_" the wines were sulfured but not yet racked.Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons New York NY; tel. (212) 355-0700.