2008 Domaine Bruno Clair Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru

The 2008 Chambertin-Clos de Beze is an intensely floral, cool wine graced with exquisite finesse in its dark red berries, flowers, minerals and menthol. It is naturally less obvious than the 2009, but just as convincing. A textured, sweet and multi-dimensional finish rounds things out in style. The Beze is quite a bit more open than the Bonnes Mares, but it nevertheless needs time, and probably lots of it. Anticipated maturity: 2018-2038. This is a beautiful set of wines from Bruno Clair. Every wine I tasted with Clair’s longtime oenologist Philippe Brun was gorgeous from top to bottom. While the top 2009s are certainly superb, the real jewels here are the village level wines which appear to be among the great success stories of the 2009 vintage. I tasted all of the wines from barrel, except the Marsannay and Marsannay Les Vaudanelles, both of which were bottled before the 2010 harvest. In 2009 Clair began harvesting on September 15 and ended on the 23rd. I also tasted a handful of 2008s, from a much later harvest that stretched into October. The handful of wines I tasted from that vintage are equally impressive, and equally worth your time. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet, various American importers, including: Martin Scott Wines, Little Neck, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808, Fine Vines, Melrose Park, IL; tel. (708) 343-6702, The Source, San Francisco, CA; tel. (415) 621-6151

Deep red. Very pure, laid-back aromas of dark berries, bitter chocolate, licorice, violet and spices. Densely packed and sweet, with highly complex, sharply delineated fla vors of licorice, graphite, violet and game. Extremely long but tight on the aftertaste, with tougher tannins that are going to require up to a decade of patience.

Also tasted in difficult circumstances. Thick and sweet but still very jagged in terms of texture. Not harmonious and very HARD WORK with lots of oak in evident. Not that much fun at this stage! (JR)