From a tiny site just east of town so small that heat retention from its walls is a significant microclimatic factor, the 2005 Santenay Clos des Mouches smells and tastes of lightly-cooked black cherry and plum, with a roasted meaty dimension. Impressively dense, but displaying a hint of drying tannin and somewhat less clarity of fruit than Muzard’s other Santenays, I wonder whether this has been slower to recover from bottling (which they all underwent in November). Incidentally, the Muzard 2005 from Santenay’s best-known – and largest – cru, the Les Gravieres seemed noticeably touched by hail in its drying streak of tannin. Also recommended: 2005 Bourgogne (85), 2005 Santenay Clos Faubard (86).Much of this substantial estate’s acreage has been reclaimed by Claude and Herve Muzard from negociant commitments over the last dozen years. The wines of Santenay typically exhibit distinctly meaty and mineral personalities rather than prominent fruits and berries, and they can tend toward rusticity of tannin, all of which – in addition to their outlying location south of the white wine center of the Cote de Beaune – has contributed to an undeserved degree of neglect. The best wines at this address offer welcome value. Much of Santenay was badly hailed-on in July, 2005, but the Muzards have a vibrating sorting-table and took great pains to remove any tainted fruit that had not already fallen to the ground.Importer: Vintage 59, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 966 9812.