2010 Puligny Montrachet Les Folatieres

(these grapes were almost golden at the time of harvest, according to Saouma): White flowers and smoky minerality on the nose. Broad, fat and large-scaled, but utterly silky for all its thickness. Not conveying the detail today of the Garenne but this is even richer. Most impressive on the very long, minerally finish, which is like chewing on stone. I may be underrating this.

The 2010 Puligny-Montrachet Folatieresis the most tense and inward of the Puligny premiers crus today. It boasts a serious core of underlying minerality, bright fruit and tremendous length. At this same time it is a bit raw. If the typical Folatieresfinesse emerges, the wine may merit a higher score in the future. Anticipated maturity: 2014+. Proprietor Mounir Saouma thinks 2010 is a great vintage and therefore he wanted to push the boundaries as far as possible by slowing down the maturation of the wines. He kept temperatures very low in the cellar to encourage slow, long malolactic fermentations and long elevage in barrel. Among the unusual practices Saouma adopted with the 2010s is stirring the lees a full year after the harvest. At the time of my visit, in July 2012, none of the 2010 whites had been bottled, the only estate in Burgundy I know of that had still not bottled their 2010s. The wines Le Moine 2010s are big, rich and powerful. In many cases, the 2010s appear to have structures that are in the realm of reds. A number of the wines also show slight elements of botrytis that will become more pronounced over time. In addition to these wines, I also tasted the 2010 Chassagne-Montrachet Morgeot, which was too closed to properly evaluate. Importer: Vintus, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (919) 769-3000