2008 Gevrey Chambertin Lavaux St Jacques

Pacalet’s 2008 Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux St.-Jacques smells fascinatingly of forest floor, damp bark, moss, heliotrope, iris, fresh red berries, caraway, and fruit pits. Lean yet refined in texture as well as infectiously bright and saliva-inducing, its sense of buoyancy is enhanced by persistently billowing inner-mouth floral perfume and its invigoration by savory mineral salt and crustacean notes. This captures the mystery of its site in an unusually delicate format. I would count on it for at least a decade of fascination but – at the risk of sounding like a broken record in the context of Pacalet’s 2008 collection – I would not miss out on savoring some young. Philippe Pacalet (for further details on whose unorthodox methods, readers are encouraged to consult my report in issue 171) held fast in the 2007 and 2008 vintages to his habits of rejecting sorting tables (selection the pickers’ responsibility, and a heavy one in these instances); fermenting with stems and whole clusters (without doubt contributory to the floral dimension most Pacalet wines share); and adding little or no sulfur during the elevage. Malo-lactic conversion in both vintages proceeded according to his usual schedule (over by early Spring), a contrast in 2008 with most of his fellow Burgundian vignerons that he insists is partly due to those low sulfur levels. Pacalet considers his 2008s – which are notably light in color, and which he compares with 2001s – very much for cellaring, though I found them enormously appealing already. Few exceed 12.5% finished alcohol, and all were bottled between December and February. (Regrettably, I was not able to taste any of the 2007s – nor, indeed, all of the 2008s – from this address.) As always, it bears mentioning that due to their low-sulfur as well as unfiltered nature, Pacalet wines should only be cellared by those who can do so in ideal conditions. Importer: Louis/Dressner Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 334 8191