2005 Domaine Bart Fixin Burgundy France. 13% alcohol. Chambers Street Wine, $20.99. Imported by Fruit of the Vines, New York.
Deep red color, deep hue, very good aroma of red fruits and light spice, good to very good tastes of fruit and spice with some earthen notes, light tannins, good acidity, rustic but very good balance, long interesting finish with good fruit notes. Rewarded lots of swirling and with the stuffing to reward some cellar time, and at this price very tempting to do so; I thought it drank pretty well tonight. It worked very well with a tuna and vegetable salad where it complemented the tuna nicely, and served as a salad dressing for the Romaine, fruits and vegetables. EGA equaled final aroma. 3*+.
The Empty Glass Aroma for this wine was remarkable. As noted, it was exactly the same at the end as the the aroma of the wine itself (three hours after opening). I spent another hour and a half, sniffing the empty glass every ten minutes or so, and the EGA changed dramatically, becoming richer and fuller, and finally displaying a distinct jammy aroma of remarkable complexity. Ten hours later there was still a very pretty echo of that jammy EGA.
Notes:
BWC: The most northerly village [in the Côte de Nuits] of note is Marsannay, an up and coming wine region for the production of value Burgundy. Next is Fixin, a village which can produce some good value wines, although they never achieve greatness.
B-21: Domaine Bart. As one travels north along Route 74 in Burgundy, the villages of Vosne-Romanee, Chambolle-Musigny, Morey St. Denis, Gevrey-Chambertin are off to the left among the vineyard slopes. Traveling north of Gevrey-Chambertin are the less known towns of Brochon, Fixin, Couchey and Marsannay followed by the suburbs of Dijon. Martin Bart’s southern most vineyard holding in the Cote de Nuits is the famous Bonne Mares. Another gem is a small parcel of another Grand Cru, Gevrey-Chambertin ‘Clos de Beze’. The great strength for me at Domaine Bart is the vineyard holdings in both Fixin and Marsannay. Pinot Noir value does exists in Burgundy! Interesting of Marsannay is that white, red and rose wines are allowed by law. This may be a new appellation to you but vines were planted here in the 7th century! The wines of Fixin were somehow overshadowed by the Chambertins to the south but these vineyard sites have existed since Roman times.
CSW: This shows pretty, bright strawberry and redcurrant fruit, ripe but balanced in a medium-bodied frame. It's not as ready to drink as the Marsannays and would benefit a few years in the cellar or some hours of aeration. An excellent value.