2006 Clos Vougeot

This is the year of Clos Vougeot, enthuses Saouma in introducing his 2006 Clos Vougeot, and it's not immediately clear whether he is referring to the vintage's potential in this site, or the fact that he has a for this address almost unprecedented five barrels' worth of this single wine. Then he tells me he plans to bottle most of it in magnum. I guess that clarifies his assessment of this wine's potential! Wood smoke, incense, peat metal shavings, machine oil, and mincemeat combine for an aromatic wave that practically leaves me gasping. Broad shouldered, mouth-coating, but palpably tannic - resembling the Echezeaux that in this vintage tastes like its understudy - this has a sappy intensity and grip otherwise witnessed here only in its Clos de la Roche sibling. Is it uplifting? No, more the opposite. The pungency and darkness of mineral and organic matter - extending to iron, moss, humus, and bark - follows though a rolling block of a finish. Batten down the hatches for at least 4-5 years. Nuance is, I suppose, beside the point with a wine as filled with flavor as this, and with energy equals mass (c2?) to burn over the next dozen or more years. "There was too much fruit" on the vines in 2006, opines Mounir Saouma, "and at the same time too much tannin in the fruit." Early pickers therefore, in his opinion, risked getting "lots of primary flavors, but wines that weren't serious. So we started the aging process asking ourselves how we will make this wine less tannic and more serious. After malolactic," which is always late here, "the wines changed completely. But the bigger mistake in 2006 was to bottle early" - something which also never happens at this address - "because the wines needed some time on their lees to extract sweetness and depth, and for all of their elements to come together." The results this year here are spectacular, and need not shy from comparison with their very different 2005 predecessors. Note that with a few significant exceptions there are usually only 1-2 barriques (25-50 cases) of any given Lucien Le Moine wine. Also, despite the number of them I tasted, that did not comprise by any means the entire collection (a circumstance I have taken pains to remedy with 2007). For further details on Le Moine's proprietors and methodology - which, once again this year, included a significant amount of vinification with stems - consult my report in issue 171. Importer: Vintus, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (919) 769-3000