2010 Gevrey Chambertin Les Champonnets

(from 45-year-old vines): Bright, deep red with ruby tones. Piercing, high-pitched aromas of bitter cherry, rose petal, crushed stone and spices. At once sweet and penetrating, with terrific inner-mouth energy and definition to the crunchy raspberry, mineral and licorice flavors. Densely packed and a bit youthfully rigorous, with a firmly tannic, building finish. These northeast-facing vines in the Combe de Lavaut are strongly influenced by cool breezes during the growing season and are always harvested late.

The 2010 Gevrey-Chambertin Champonnets is notable for its cool, mineral-driven personality. Red berries, mint and crushed flowers are some of the notes that take shape in the glass, but this remains a somewhat severe, intensely focused wine that captures the essence of both site and vintage. Today the Champonnets is a bit angular, but it should be a beauty once the fruit begins to blossom. There is more than enough depth to make me think all that is missing is time. This is a serious wine built for the cellar. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2030. The 2010 vintage was not especially kind to Louis Boillot. The December 2009 frost wiped out the vineyard Boillot used for his Bourgogne, so naturally that wine was not made. The Fixin yields were tiny (just one barrel) and that wine was blended into the Cote de Nuits Villages. Overall yields were down 40-50%, although some parcels were hit even harder. The Caillerets, Croix Noires and Cherbaudes were down 50% and the Pommard was down 60%. The harvest started on September 22 and lasted about a week. The wines were aged in 25-30% new oak. Malos were very slow and were not finished until September 2011, quite late even by standards of the year. On a much more positive note, the wines themselves are fabulous and deserve serious attention. Unfortunately, the 2010 Pommard Les Croix Noires and Chambolle-Musigny Beaux Bruns were too reduced to evaluate, so I will have to wait for another opportunity to taste those wines. I will report on the 2009s in the April issue. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990