From one of their many celebrated new acquisitions, the Dujac 2005 Vosne-Romanee Les Malconsorts offers smoky, tea-like, floral, and spicy aromas. It comes to the palate relatively firm though texturally refined and strikingly clear, full of deep, smoke-licked meaty flavors, ripe though slightly tart raspberry, flowers, tea and spices. Palpably dense, this nevertheless avoids any sense of heaviness or opacity, but instead displays lift and liveliness. The amazingly long finish really builds momentum, confirming how much is held in reserve for the long haul, and that this is about meats, stones, flowers, herbs and spices – in short very much about Pinot’s mysteries, but very little about fruits or berries. The already rich array of crus at Domaine Dujac has recently been augmented on two fronts. The purchase (along with de Montille) of the Societe Civile du Clos de Thorey (Thomas-Moillard) has brought them a raft of choice parcels including three new grand cru holdings (for a staggering total of eight). Meanwhile, they have expanded their negociant arm (with control over harvest and green harvest a prerequisite) to supplement in particular their volumes of village-level wine. (Those wines – labeled “Dujac Fils & Pere” – are signified in the above listing with “FP”. In fact, due to a legal technicality, the 2005 vintage wines from the properties newly acquired by the domaine – but not subsequent vintages – will also read “Fils & Pere” rather than “Domaine”.) Even with California-trained oenologist Diana Seysses (nee Snowden) joining her husband Jeremy and in-laws Jacques and Alec, and with a new winery (though at the old address) I wonder at how they are able to keep up with the magnitude of their responsibilities. Yet despite so many parcels and vines new to them this year, the results are consistently outstanding and at times astounding. Much of the vinification – increasingly as one goes up the hierarchy of crus – was of whole clusters. Malos finished (finally) by November and the wines were bottle in December and January. Importer: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel.(415) 491 4724