2006 Chassagne Montrachet La Romanee

Jadot’s 2006 Chassagne-Montrachet La Romanee (a small lot from purchased grapes) smells of butterscotch, toasted almond, litchi, lanolin, and vanilla. Its exotic and advanced ripeness and hints of new wood are nicely complimented by the wine’s creamy richness. In the finish, one glimpses hints of stone and chalk appropriate to the site. Like its Caillerets sibling, this impressively rich cru bottling may well prove longer-lived than the corresponding village Chassagne (made up in any case of a majority premier cru), but is neither as winsome nor as elegant. The impressive collection of Jadot 2006s were slow both in their alcoholic fermentation and their malo-lactic evolution, which director Jacques Lardiere considered all to the good when it came to imposing structure and building complexity in wines of such ripeness and relatively high alcohol. In any case, Jadot whites seldom complete their malo-lactic transformation, and if one seeks a vintage to demonstrate the virtues of that approach, surely 2006 is the poster child. Furthermore, anyone who thinks that there are no values left in white Burgundy today has clearly not given Jadot’s wide range the attention it deserves. (These wines were assembled from barrel for my tasting and/or tasted from a range of individual barrels. I have generally made note of those wines not owned by Jadot and its associates by at least indicating whether grapes or juice were purchased.) Importer: Kobrand, Inc., New York, NY; tel.(212) 490 9300