2006 Bouchard Père & Fils Chambertin Grand Cru

A domaine wine from the late-ripening upper reaches of the site, Bouchard's 2006 Chambertin (of which there are only 50 cases) was not destemmed at all. Ripe black fruits, peat, and rose petals strikingly scent this firmly tannic and impressively concentrated effort. Salty, meaty, tartly berry-fruited and almost palpably mineral, it finishes with impressive grip of not finesse. This should be revisited in the course of 2010, and is likely to have at least 6-8 years of cellar potential. Director Philippe Prost emphasized the importance of flexible and surgical picking (with a crew numbering upwards of 300) and getting his crop to Bouchard's battery of presses within two hours via a fleet of mini-vans. He insists that relatively little triage was necessary on the domaine vineyards (as opposed to those under contract) and the estate wines are certainly predictably stronger as a group. (I have generally mentioned in the notes that follow which wines are from Bouchard's domaine and which from contract fruit, but have explicitly noted this as part of a wine's description, only if there are two versions of the same appellation within the present portfolio.) The fruit was crushed very gently and the wines racked only once – at 10-14 months, than usual – explains Prost, in order to guard against exposed or drying tannins, a policy which my tastings suggest was generally successful. Importer: Henriot, Inc, New York, NY; tel. (212) 605-6767