2008 Chambertin

The Boillot 2008 Chambertin – from high up on the cru, protected from hail by the forest, but demanding long hang-time, he reports – is scented with smoky Lapsang tea, peat, and licorice; rich in roasted red meats and black fruits; expansive and palate-staining. There is no place – for now at least, it seems – in this Chambertin for fine floral perfume or elegance; it is a robust, carnal, and densely-fruited rendition. Firmly but finely tannic, its cherry pit, chalk, and stone finishing notes convey a certain austerity but this merely sets off the richness of the whole, and there is an unstoppable torrent of fresh fruit juiciness throughout. This should be worth cellaring for 15-20 years, and would probably best be left in peace for the first half dozen. In 2008, Henri Boillot both expanded his domaine and became ambitious qua negociant with Pinot. In the latter capacity, he looks for contracts where he can exercise control over the farming, so that, for example, all of the 2008s – he reports – were cropped at less than 20 hectoliters per hectare and picked very late. Unorthodoxly (for Burgundy, at least) Boillot pressed many of his reds early to let them complete fermentation in barrel. His malos were late but not dramatically so, finishing in August, and most of the wines were bottled in February, a few earlier. (I tasted several 2007 reds from Boillot, but too early-on to adequately assess, and I have not had time to revisit that collection.) Various importers