2006 Chambolle Musigny Les Fuees

Ripe raspberry and wood smoke in the nose of the Barthod 2006 Chambolle-Musigny Les Fuees leads to a brightly fresh-fruited palate with abundant but fine tannins and perpetuating the sense of smoky pungency in the form of peat and black tea, which along with fruit skin, faintly bitter herbal notes, and suggestions of chalk and salt lend this invigoration as well as almost adhesive persistence. Here is a 2006 full of nooks and crannies, missing the polished or soothing potential of its vintage, but delivering more than fair compensation in animation. Ghislaine Barthod's yields were low not only on account of hail (notably in Beaux Bruns and Charmes), she explained, but also on account of the relative paucity of juice in the berries. That said, as with so many of the best 2006s, Barthod's are generous and largely free of tannic severity. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990