2007 Domaine Gérard Raphet Clos de Vougeot Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru

Raphet's 2007 Clos Vougeot Vieilles Vignes is possessed of a healthy color and depth of ripe, fresh black fruits that predictably distance it from his principle bottling of Clos Vougeot. In common with the latter wine, this limited old vines bottling offers charred red meats and pungent pepper; and here a bittersweet herbal component adds to the interest in persistent, low-toned finish. This represents a substantial mouthful of Pinot for the vintage, its abundant tannins fine-grained and likely to help insure that it is worth following for at least 5-7 years. Gerard Raphet's 2008s finished malo by the end of the following January, which is amazingly early for this vintage, and not necessarily advantageous. (He suspects the environment of his new facility has something to do with that rapidity.) He bottled them last January. As a group these wines are not particularly dark or youthful in color, nor do they for the most part exhibit the sort of brightness that I associate with their vintage. That said, they are generous and charming, often with attractively-integrated hints of caramelization. Yields were way down in both 2007 and 2008, notes Raphet, though one can hardly attribute any special degree of vinous concentration to this fact. In common with me, Raphet finds his 2007s - which to my surprise held their own vis-a-vis 2008 - ideal for drinking young. Peter Vezan Selections (various importers), Paris; fax 011 33 1 42 55 42 93