2005 Mommessin FLEURIE "Les Roches" (Beaujolais, France)

Mommessin is a Burgundy house that has been increasing in quality lately, and this is one of its reserve bottlings. That said, I expected more from this wine.

Dark, crystalline ruby with purple highlights. Medium intensity nose, very austere and minerally. Lots of stones, spicy underbrush notes, and scorched earth in the mouth. The cranberry/blueberry fruit that is there is nice, but it is overshadowed by the austere non-fruit aspects of the nose. Intense but austere in the mouth too. Good length and acid balance, along with a soft texture, but more fruit would have been nice. I'm no winemaker, but I get the feeling that if they had just waited a bit longer to pick the grapes that this wine would have been the better for it. 86. Was $19.50 (pricey for a Fleurie/Beaujolais) at Spec's on Richmond.