2006 Chambertin Clos de Beze

Ripe black cherry, cassis, and rose petal are accented by sage and black pepper in the nose as well as on the silken palate of the Le Moine 2006 Chambertin Clos De Beze (which had not yet been bottled when I last tasted it). A seductive persistence of inner-mouth floral perfume enhances the sense of buoyancy and finesse of a wine that defies any of the difficulties encountered in hailed-on Gevrey grands crus from other addresses. This finishes like the mesmerizing, buoyant play of a fountain of deep, juicy black fruits and liquid floral perfume. The pungency that helps give this wine its sense of invigoration comes from herb, spice, and almost tactilely chalky flavor elements without its interrupting an at once soothing yet refreshing and animating flow of rich fruit. Here's one wine of its vintage that I can easily imagine having a glorious 15 or more year lifespan. "There was too much fruit" on the vines in 2006, opines Mounir Saouma, "and at the same time too much tannin in the fruit." Early pickers therefore, in his opinion, risked getting "lots of primary flavors, but wines that weren't serious. So we started the aging process asking ourselves how we will make this wine less tannic and more serious. After malolactic," which is always late here, "the wines changed completely. But the bigger mistake in 2006 was to bottle early" - something which also never happens at this address - "because the wines needed some time on their lees to extract sweetness and depth, and for all of their elements to come together." The results this year here are spectacular, and need not shy from comparison with their very different 2005 predecessors. Note that with a few significant exceptions there are usually only 1-2 barriques (25-50 cases) of any given Lucien Le Moine wine. Also, despite the number of them I tasted, that did not comprise by any means the entire collection (a circumstance I have taken pains to remedy with 2007). For further details on Le Moine's proprietors and methodology - which, once again this year, included a significant amount of vinification with stems - consult my report in issue 171. Importer: Vintus, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (919) 769-3000