2007 Domaine Dujac Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru

Boxwood and oregano pungency as well as intimations of tart cherry and rhubarb on the nose of Dujac’s 2007 Morey-St.-Denis 1er Cru fit into an overall pattern of invigoration, with black pepper, salt, an oregano complimenting refreshing, juicy brightness of fruit. At the same time, though, as with many 2007s, three is a faintly caramelized, torrified note not entirely integrated, so that I am left wondering how this wine’s personality will shake-out over the next 3-5 years. There is a lot of complexity here and certainly impressive sheer cling. The Dujac 2008s were not racked until last December, and bottling took place January through March. “The malic acid numbers were high-ish, but not significantly higher than in, say, 2006 or 2001,” says Jeremy Seysses in an effort to explain what he admitted were “for us, excessively late malos. I have a feeling it was a lack of nutrients that were wash out,” he continues, since, after all, “it rained a lot in 2008” with, he adds, “poor fruit set proving to be the vintage’s saving grace. I think we would actually have had less to harvest (i.e. worth keeping) if we had had a better fruit set. There was rot, but can you find it in any of the wines? That’s a credit to how far Burgundy has come along in terms of sorting” (which Dujac does exclusively in the vineyard, not on sorting tables – the name of their U.S. importer ironically notwithstanding). “I didn’t love my lack of options in 2007,” says Seysses of the preceding season, “so we picked early – earlier even than in 2003.” In vinification “we decided not to force too much, and just to keep it charming,” which is exactly how I thought the wines turned out. “At Domaine Dujac, we’re never been that attached to deep color, so we’re quite tolerant (in that regard), and the least thing we wanted to do was make hard wines. I de-stemmed more (than usual, or than in 2008). The fruit felt fragile, so in barrel I kept the wines under a bit more free sulfur than usual, which reinforced their lightness.” Seysses opines that 2007 was not a year in which old selections displayed their overall superiority to clones, because “if yo(‘re Pinots) were riper earlier, you were ripe while it was raining,” whereas in 2008 you could scarcely get too much ripeness. Importer: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel. (415) 491-4724

Pale red. Reticent red fruit nose displays modest depth. Suppler than the village Morey but lacks real flesh and depth of flavor. I'd drink this pliant wine on the early side. Finishes with spicy tannins and moderate length.

Racy, wild sort of nose – very much more exciting than the village wine. This should have a relatively long life and reveal much more with time. Pretty tart at the moment. (JR)