I’ve a soft spot for Carillon, having drunk many of their premier and grand crus from vintages dating back to 1988. Their 1990’s were quite spectacular for well over a decade; the last, an extremely good bottle of Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet, opened about 5 years ago.
I managed to secure a small parcel of this 2005 1er cru some time ago and yesterday my parents and I celebrated my wife’s first “outing” (since her big operation two weeks ago) with a first bottle over a quite respectable lunch at the very impressive outdoor setting of the Yarralumla Gallery and Oaks Brasserie (pricey FWII but the beer-battered ling (fish) was excellent, herb and garlic bread, tasty enough, but served almost cold, mixed reactions to the desserts - sticky date muffin and French apple tart were fine, lemon and coconut crumble somewhat lacking and the service from one young female waitress bordered on poor).
The wine looks amazingly fresh and zesty with only a vein of butterscotch attesting to some degree of bottle age. The colour is just past pale straw, the aromatics bright but breezy and holding great poise from delicately honed contributions of classy, mildly underripe stonefruits, a touch of guava and top class French oak notes. But it’s in the mouth where this wonderful wine excels - gorgeous mouthfeel with a perfect equilibrium of fruit, barrel influence, tremendous grip from some lively acidity and just the right amount of astringency from that oak at the end. Exemplary length blessed with restrained authority fulfil the final part of this complete package riddled with pedigree and class. 93 points.
