2006 Maison Joseph Drouhin Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru

A pretty red berry nose also displays notes of chalk, spice and a touch of smoke that merges into round, sweet, fresh and nicely complex medium-bodied flavors that possess good vibrancy and detail on the sappy and mouth coating finish that is slightly edgy, undoubtedly due to the severe hail storm that hit the vineyard in late July.

Author: Allen Meadows

Issue: 2nd Quarter, 2008

Medium red. Musky red fruits and rose petal on the nose. Sweet and moderately dense, with good sappy fruit framed by slightly edgy acidity. Not too obviously hailed on: I find a slight green edge to the flavors rather than a dryness to the tannins.

Author: Stephen Tanzer

Issue: March/April 2008

Pure and elegant, featuring wild cherry and berry notes, a silky texture and a linear profile. This has a mineral component and lingers nicely on the finish.

Author: Bruce Sanderson

The Domaine Drouhin 2006 Griotte-Chambertin required especially rigorous selection and gentle extraction, largely as a legacy of hail, opines Veronique Drouhin-Boss, and it seems to have paid off. A healthy ruddy color is matched by flavors of fresh sour cherry and red raspberry wreathed in narcissus and herbs, and leading to a bright, invigorating finish with undertones of sandalwood, salt, beef marrow, moss, and chalk. This might not be the last word in ripeness or be especially texturally rich, but it is full of energy and grand cru in its sheer, penetrating persistence. There is something a bit white wine or Riesling-like about it, no doubt an indirect result of the hail and thus of the vinificatory approach taken. Drouhin did not attempt to bottle a wine from their hail-ravaged Clos de Beze.

Author: David Schildknecht