2007 Vosne Romanee

Lightly-cooked yet tart-edged blackberry and red currant; smoky black tea; game, moss, decadent woods, and underbrush scent the Mugneret 2007 Vosne Romanee and follow on a palate of infectious juiciness, leaving a dark berry stain and a wealth of herbal and mineral nuances – if also a slight catch of tannin – in its wake. This surprised me both for its depth and the bright edge to its fruit, and if followed for 4-6 years it might well gain some harmony while preserving nuance. Marie-Andree Mugneret points out that the trie de table had to be especially severe for this appellation. The cool concentration and acid preservation of 2008 as a vintage would seem to mirror the finely-chiseled, fresh-fruited, modest alcohol style one associates with the Mugneret sisters, but the striking and surprising thing about their collection of that vintage is its youthful richness and textural allure. (The low-pH 2008s finished at only 12-12.5% alcohol.) As Marie-Christine Mugneret points out, they dropped crop to promote ripeness and drying and as a result were optimally positioned to take advantage of the September turn in the weather … optimally, that is, except in terms of yields! Most lots did not finish malo for a full year, and I tasted the wines in February at various stages (as noted) between barrel and bottle. “The sorting we did in early September in the vineyards in 2006 all had to be done on the sorting table in 2007,” remarks Marie-Andree Mugneret, explaining that ripening was too rapid in the latter vintage – in which they began picking September 1 – to permit such a triage at the vine. Despite the relatively swift malos and ripe fruit of 2007, bottling extended all the way until July of last year (for the Chaignots), but the Mugnerets share my view that the wines should for the most part be enjoyed relatively young in the flush of their fruit. A Peter Vezan Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011 33 1 42 55 42 93