2001 Domaine Claude Dugat Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru

Much more exuberant than the Lavaut with very fruity, forward yet beguilingly complex dark fruit and crushed herb notes and sappy, sweet, mouth coating flavors underpinned by dusty tannins and excellent length. This is quite powerful for Charmes and while it stops just short of being robust and muscular, there is a lot of wine here. This will require 7 to 8 years to smooth out and then drink well for the better part of a decade. Extremely impressive juice.

Good medium ruby. Distinctly black aromas of violet, bitter chocolate and licorice. Less expressive today than the Lavaux but lush, dense and sweet. Wonderfully expansive for the year, but not at all heavy. Finishes very sweet and perfumed, with fine, thoroughly buffered tannins and superb persistence. A very primary 2001 that will repay seven or eight years of cellaring.

From one of Gevrey’s warmest terroirs, the 2001 Charmes-Chambertin offers aromas of black cherries and blackberries. Light to medium-bodied, it slathers the palate with copious red and black cherries whose effects linger in its long, yet firm finish. Projected maturity: 2005-2012. When asked if he had a preference between the 2000s and 2001s, the self-effacing Claude Dugat responded that “I like them about the same, even though the 2000s have a roundness that particularly appeals to me.” Later in the conversation, when I commented on the firm nature of his 2001s, he said “reaching full (grape) maturity was a real problem in 2001, but these wines will soften considerably at bottling when the CO2 is removed.” Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 832-9083