2007 Chambolle Musigny Les Feusselottes

Ginger, blond tobacco, and cooked red raspberry in the alluring nose of the Mugnerets’ 2007 Chambolle-Musigny Les Feusselottes lead to a juicy, well-concentrated, spice- and invigoratingly salt-tinged palate performance. Strong tannins well-up and along with a crushed stone undertow drag down the fruit just a bit in the finish. There is fascinating complexity here, though, and I would simply plan to enjoy this over the next 4-6 years, pairing it with dishes that will flatter or appreciate its spice and salinity. The cool concentration and acid preservation of 2008 as a vintage would seem to mirror the finely-chiseled, fresh-fruited, modest alcohol style one associates with the Mugneret sisters, but the striking and surprising thing about their collection of that vintage is its youthful richness and textural allure. (The low-pH 2008s finished at only 12-12.5% alcohol.) As Marie-Christine Mugneret points out, they dropped crop to promote ripeness and drying and as a result were optimally positioned to take advantage of the September turn in the weather … optimally, that is, except in terms of yields! Most lots did not finish malo for a full year, and I tasted the wines in February at various stages (as noted) between barrel and bottle. “The sorting we did in early September in the vineyards in 2006 all had to be done on the sorting table in 2007,” remarks Marie-Andree Mugneret, explaining that ripening was too rapid in the latter vintage – in which they began picking September 1 – to permit such a triage at the vine. Despite the relatively swift malos and ripe fruit of 2007, bottling extended all the way until July of last year (for the Chaignots), but the Mugnerets share my view that the wines should for the most part be enjoyed relatively young in the flush of their fruit. A Peter Vezan Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011 33 1 42 55 42 93

Medium red. Reticent raspberry and cherry aromas. Tightly wound and not particularly sweet but with lovely energy and grip to its precise red berry and crushed stone flavors. Even less evolved than the Chaignots: this fresh, primary wine needs time to unwind and evolve.

Good bright red. Complex raspberry, spice and floral aromas enlivened by a peppery nuance. Juicy and firm, with lovely inner-mouth lift thanks to pepper and spice notes. More minerally than the Chaignots and thus more precise and lively on the broad, palate-dusting finish.