2006 Puligny Montrachet Les Pucelles

Henri Boillot's 2006 Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles displays a depth and grip that go well beyond the other wines in his collection. Aromas of ripe peach and nectarine, apple blossom, lemon, and a bitter, cyanic note introduce the bitter-sweet yet refreshingly citric themes on a peachy, lemony, nutty palate. An undertone of chalky minerality is unmistakable, leading into a long finish poised between fruit generosity and adamant minerality. The toasted notes of 50% new wood are evident throughout, but without seeming at all out of place. Henri Boillot's domaine will now be known by his name rather than that of his father Jean, and will thus be eponymous with his ambitious and burgeoning negociant collection. But precisely because the latter line-up is so lengthy, and because certain differences in approach (and certainly a different cellar environment) apply to each of Boillot's businesses, I have treated his negociant wines under a separate heading. Boillot began harvesting five days ahead of the ban de vendange, and the precautions he took to preserve freshness in his 2006 wines overlap with those he has taken generally in an attempt to ward off premature oxidation. He performed no batonnage, and planned to monitor the assembled wines in tank over an extended period. These domaine wines were less generous - almost severe - the day I tasted, when compared with the corresponding negociant wines, perhaps in part due to the former having been racked to tank less than three weeks prior. Importer: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel. (415) 491 4724