2007 Nuits St Georges Clos de l'Arlot

Fragrant red fruit and a light caramel note. Much more savoury, even a little sour on the palate, and a note of extreme youth that seems to owe more to the barrel than the grape, almost bitter. (JH)

(60% destemmed; this was racked a second time in late September) Pale-medium red. More vibrant on the nose than the Petits Plets, with perfumed floral lift to the strawberry, pepper and spice aromas. Juicy and rather suave, with good fruit intensity. Leriche believes that this wine was filled out by the second racking. Finishes smooth, with pepper and spice notes and more length than the foregoing samples.

The 2007 Nuits-St.-Georges Clos de l’Arlot smells gamy and saline in a way that suggests slight reduction. Beyond that, lightly-cooked black raspberry and mulberry emerge, tinged by vanilla and spice from barrel. The tannins here are predictably stronger than in the corresponding second wine, Petit Arlot, but the result is slightly diminished charm, and the extra ripeness has brought along a touch of warmth. Perhaps this will (have) overcome its reduction short-term and thereby also gain greater finishing clarity. I would tentatively plan on drinking it over the next 3-5 years. ||Olivier Leriche reports having harvested more robust material in 2008 than in 2007, but notes that a rigorous triage for rot was needed in each instance, and that he took the precaution of significantly reducing in both vintages his usual percentage of stems and whole clusters. Harvest in 2008 was relatively rapid, and concluded October 9, but Leriche notes that its progression was determined by the extent of botrytis incursions rather than by the parcels’ ripeness. The botrytis in 2008 was more insidious, he maintained – echoing comments of several other growers – and the sorting unusually arduous, in that it frequently affected individual berries within the clusters, while triage in 2007 more often consisted of either accepting or rejecting an entire, relatively uniformly healthy or botrytis-afflicted bunch. Surprisingly, several l’Arlot 2008s – Clos du Chapeau, Clos de l’Arlot, les Suchots – finished malo already their first winter; whereas others were protracted and erratic. I tasted the final assemblages just before they were sulfured and bottled, which Leriche – in common with quite a few Burgundy vintners – argues is the best time to taste red Burgundies until after they have had several years in bottle.||Numerous agents and U.S. importers including: Chambers & Chambers, San Francisco, CA; tel. (415) 642-5500, Classic Wine Imports, Norwood, MA, tel. (781) 352-1100, and a Daniel Johnnes Selection, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300 Wine Advocate.June, 2010