2006 Puligny Montrachet Les Folatieres

The Latour 2006 Puligny-Montrachet Folatieres (from purchased juice as well as grapes) mingles honey, melon, and brown spices with vanilla and lanolin from the barrel. Undeniably rich, if without much nuance today, it evinces awkward lactic character and finishing bitterness. One expects more from a great site, and perhaps this was simply showing under par on the day I tasted it. Louis-Fabrice Latour and oenologue Jean-Charles Thomas presented a 2006 collection that displayed the opulent richness that one would anticipate from such a ripe vintage, and from the Latour house style. Sometimes these wines want a bit for clarity, definition and distinctiveness – occasionally they are rather obviously marked by dairy flavors from their malolactic conversion – but the best of them have much to offer. Since I did not have opportunity to include in my issue 179 report notes on the Chablis bottlings of Simmonet-Febvre – a domaine Latour purchased in 2003 (and which also bottles some lovely sparkling wines) – I have made note of them here. Louis Latour has numerous importers throughout the U.S.