2008 Nuits St Georges Les Roncieres

Concentrated fresh cherry and veal-stock meatiness mingle in the Chevillon 2008 Nuits-St.-Georges Les Roncieres, complimented by a hint of caramel from barrel. Peat-like smokiness and soy-like savor add intrigue and enticement to another sappily-concentrated, fine-grained Chevillon 2008 that projects admirable, vintage-typical energy and exerts amazing pull on the salivary glands. Bertrand Chevillon reported the typically late, long malos of the 2008 vintage, and the Chevillon crus were not bottled until last spring – subsequent to my tastings of them, which took place in part assembled from tank and in part from representative selections of barrels. Interestingly, Chevillons report a normal crop level, stressing that vigilance and diligence in vine treatments made for a healthy crop. Most of the musts weighed-in between 12.5% and 13% potential alcohol and chaptalization was minimal. Bernard Chevillon compares his family’s 2008 with their 2001 –an underestimation, I suspect – and his 2007s with the less interesting, structured, fresh-fruited, or consistent 2000s, an analogy that strikes me as apt. (The Bourgogne and Les St.-Georges, incidentally, had been committed right down to the bottle chez Chevillon by the time I got ‘round to tasting 2007s, hence the absence of notes on those.) Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524