2008 Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru

The Prieur 2008 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru – constituting the fruit of their recently re-planted Chambertin vines – smells and tastes of dark cherry, licorice, rose hip and blond tobacco. Its sweetness of fruit is challenged a bit in the finish by the resinous, toasty overlay of barrel, which the rest of this wine’s personality is not strong enough to resist. Drink it over the next 3-5 years. Martin Prieur, oenologist Nadine Gublin, and their team hung tight in the 2008 vintage and ended up harvesting very ripe-tasting Pinots, at the price of yields dramatically reduced by the necessary selection (to the extent hail and green harvest had not already cut them back). As a group, these 2008s tended toward a not entirely felicitous alliance of tannic abrasion and toasty, smoky, ultimately slightly palate-drying new wood, although many of the wines showed more harmoniously when I re-tasted them in April than they had the month prior, and I have accordingly favored my later impressions in the notes that follow. It may well be true by some measure – as Gublin opined – that the 2008s here are more consistently ripe than were the 2006s, but for now I find more depth, harmony, and charm in the latter. Their 2007s – which the domaine began picking already on August 30 – are not currently displaying much of the charm they showed very early on, and while the estate’s staff hope is that this will be regained (and certainly the wines have “structure” in the sense of tannin), I continue to be skeptical in general about deferring those pleasures that this vintage offers. In many vineyards, incidentally, 2008 represented the third consecutive vintage in which Prieur had harvested scarcely more than 20 hectoliters per hectare. Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700

Good red-ruby. Enticing aromas of raspberry, black cherry, herbs and licorice. Nicely supple in the middle, with cool, crunchy red berry flavors complicated by floral and iron notes. The tannins are a bit dry and the finish could use more length, but this wine has personality and sweetness.