2006 Domaine Simon Bize et Fils Savigny-lès-Beaune Aux Vergelesses 1er Cru

Struck-match aromas. Lots of pure fruit and great balance for current drinking. Liquorice length. Great stuff. Vegy nose. (JR)

A little roasted on the nose but there’s some fragrant red fruit underneath. Firm, chewy tannins. A step up from the Liards but a bit tough. (JH)

Bize's 2006 Savigny-les-Beaune Aux Vergelesses – two-thirds of which was not de-stemmed – reflects the sort of extra depth and intrigue that it did in the 2005 vintage. Suggestions of iodine, kelp, and sea breezes mingle on the nose and palate with faintly tart and bitter blackberry fruit, with fine tannins segueing into an undertone of wet stone. This finishes in a long colloquy of dark fruit and marine mineral elements. I would anticipate this being well worth following for 6-8 years. ||Patrick Bize and Guillaume Bott picked largely in the last days of September, taking into account the need for 10-15% of the fruit to have to be segregated and discarded. The fruit for a number of wines was entirely de-stemmed – a more rigorous practice than usual here – to mitigate greenness or bitterness of flavor. The results generally – but no always (as witness a particularly astringent Grands Liards) – preserve the clarity, and mineral intrigue that one expects at this address, although they make for a somewhat somber and low-keyed lot tonally, and do not remotely measure up to the outstanding 2005s. It should be born in mind that Bize wines from the 1980s – when there a great many more marginally ripe and rot-plagued harvests than growers or consumers have had to suffer through since – had a habit of performing remarkably well in challenging vintages once given a few years in bottle.||A Becky Wassserman Selection (various importers), Le Serbet, Beaune; fax 011-33-3-80-24-29-70 Wine Advocate.December, 2009