2006 Nuits St Georges Les Roncieres

Ripe cherry, red raspberry, game, and hints of wood smoke in the nose of the Grivot 2006 Nuits-St.-Georges Les Roncieres lead into a palate of sappy, vivacious fruit intensity, pungent smokiness. The finish here grips impressively while remaining refreshing. A hint of tannic numbing is not enough to deaden the exuberance, and likely to resolve itself in a few years. I would tentatively plan to enjoy this within 7-8, though. "For me, the virtues of 2006 are freshness, reflection of terroir, minerality, and enormous vinosity. It is an accessible vintage," says Etienne Grivot, quickly signifying that "accessible" should on no account be taken pejoratively, or as excluding cerebral appeal. His aim to reinforce these characteristics by very gentle extraction has proven highly successful. Grivot says that since his experience in 2004 he is determined to chaptalize only extremely lightly – to extend fermentations a bit – if at all, because he believes that depressing finished levels of alcohol will other things being equal promote more expressive and elegant wines. He finds the frequent comparisons of 2006 to a cross between 2000 and 2001 reasonably apt. Incidentally, prices dropped a bit here in the 2006 vintage, an especially welcome move when one considers the high quality of the wines, not to mention the prestige of this estate. Importer: Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel. (212) 419-1400