Andrew Jefford: Appearance: Clear scarlet-red. Aroma: The fruit register is different from Echézeaux or Grands Echézeaux: chic blackcurrant and cherry replace the raspberry and plum. This is pure, refined, and high-collared, with a dusting of sugar and a little pounded cinnamon in the distance. What it does share with the Echézeaux and the Grands Echézeaux is a sense of unflustered harmony common to the DRC family in 2005; other growers’ renditions of the vintage had led me to expect more aromatic boldness and a firmer strike. Flavor: Deep, plunging, brimming, with the acidity playing a more prominent part in the construction than for the Echézeaux or Grands Echézeaux. Again, the fruits are midnight black: This is the most Syrah-like of Burgundy’s royal Pinots. There’s a ripe, creamy sweetness behind the shaking mane of fruit. The flavors ripple, swirl, and eddy. On the finish, more tannin than I remember in previous vintages of Romanée-St-Vivant, and it leaves greater warmth in its wake as well. 17.5

Michael Schuster: Initially a noticeably more “animal” nose than the previous two (a hint of gameyness to come?), but this disappears with aeration and time in the glass. Utterly graceful balance, discreetly concentrated, with an exquisite ripeness, a barely noticeable, yet clearly present nerve of acidity, and very fine textured, chalk-dry tannin; particularly sweet, tenacious, and firm, with a minerality of taste seeming to reflect the limestone nourishment of its roots; and with great length to mirror the palate. Less liquid charm than Echézeaux, more scope and structure than Grands Echézeaux, and with incredibly scented persistence. A splendid Romanée-St-Vivant, absolutely complete. This will need a bit more time than the first two. 2020–40. 18+