2007 Puligny Montrachet Les Combettes

The Carillon 2007 Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes displays a rather aggressive phenolic profile, with citrus zest, toasted nuts, and peach kernel, which then meld with stony, alkaline notes to convey a more austere and less elegant impression than the picture of generosity and charm that Carillon paints as his ideal image of wine from this site. The piquancy, pith, and stoniness here do not preclude a certain creaminess of texture, but I can't say that I find this renders the overall effect more winsome. I’d like to think I caught this in a somehow awkward moment, and shall refrain from even attempting a prognosis. These vines are only 15 years old, incidentally, but lack of concentration is certainly not the concern I have, even in this relatively copious vintage. Carillon started picking the last of August, which he points out is exactly a week later than conventional calculations based on the early date of flowering would have led one to predict. He chaptalized most wines around a degree, to arrive at finished alcohol levels of 13-13.5% Carillon’s wines spend approximately a year in barrel – 15-20% new – with the lees stirred, followed by six months in tank. Importers: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990 and Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802