2011 Chambolle Musigny

Medium red. Musky perfume of cherry, spices, flowers and underbrush. Supple and easygoing, but with good lift and spicy, herbal high notes to its red fruit and earth flavors. Not dense but pretty and persistent, closing with dusty tannins.

Mugnier's 2011 Chambolle-Musigny boasts marvelous comlexity and nuance. Sage, rosemary, dried flowers, graphite and black cherries form a complex mosaic of aromas and flavors in a wine of unusual complexity at this level. The 2011 is beautifully lifted, aromatic and impeccable in its balance.

The 2011 Chambolle-Musigny Village has a bright and perky bouquet of red currant, crushed strawberry scents and undergrowth with just a faint scent of tomato leaf. The palate is medium-bodied with relatively light tannins when compared to the 2012. But it is certainly well-balanced with an attractive spicy undertow and a precise, if slightly clipped, finish. Drink now-2019. I was delighted to return to the home of Frederic Mugnier in the cluster of houses that make up the village of Chambolle, his perhaps the grandest and most imposing. Those are not adjectives that would describe the man himself, ever congenial and humble when I met him at the domaine. I was there to taste his 2012s in barrel, but with some free time before my next appointment he kindly offered to show me his bottled 2011s. This is a producer whose wines I have warmed to in recent years. When I commenced my Burgundy odyssey in the 1990s I felt that his wines were outshone by his neighbor Christophe Roumier and felt that they did not quite reach their full potential. However, in recent vintages Frederic has really honed his style and to me he seems more comfortable with the level of new wood that he is using, even countenancing the idea of a grand cru sans new oak. The wines seem “happier,” as banal as that sounds. But they just sang from bottle with freshness, verve, personality and charm – facets of a great Burgundy wine. Most of these cuvees would have been allocated on release, but I am sure some 2011s remain available and they come highly recommended. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet, various American importers, including: Martin Scott Wines, Little Neck, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808; Veritas Imports, Beverly Hills, CA; tel. (310) 205-3803; Toepfer Imports LLC, CO; tel. (303) 818-7640