2007 Vosne Romanee Les Beaux Monts

Jadot’s 2007 Vosne-Romanee Les Beaux Monts leads with almost smolderingly smoky notes suggesting black tea and Latakia tobacco, along with licorice, blackberry, cassis, and hints of well hung game and fading lily. On the one hand this is surprisingly bright and tart-edged for its vintage; on the other, its very ripe dark fruits are underscored by a hint of caramel, yet the effect is more intriguing than in any way awkwardly bifurcated. A decadent and pungent complexity such as promised on the nose persists in a lingering finish. This should merit following for 6-8 years, and quite possibly longer. Jacques Lardiere reported that selection to remove grapes tainted with rot had to be rigorous in both 2007 and 2008, but that the task was more onerous in 2008, and especially in the Cote de Beaune. A substantial share of the triage in the Cote de Nuits, he noted, was for the sake or removing under-ripe berries, and in the end less than one degree of chaptalization took place with any Jadot 2008 or 2007 red. Given the biodynamic methods now employed here, anti-botryticides are anathema, which would, one suspects, have enhanced the challenges presented in both years, but especially in 2007. The best Jadot 2008s – many of which did not finish malo until after the 2009 harvest – possess energy and sheer refreshment, if occasionally accompanied by slightly abrasive tannins and aggressive acids. What’s more, these 2008s are for the most part (by Cote d’Or standards) value-priced. The higher-priced 2007s – about which Lardiere waxed enthusiastic early in their evolution – frequently wanted somewhat for focus; sweetness of fruit; or distinctive personalities, with the exceptions being, sadly for consumers, among the most expensive crus. While Jadot’s Cote de Beaune 2007s were harvested earlier and vinified more cautiously due to their more precarious condition than were the corresponding Cote de Nuits lots, I found worrisome astringency creeping into some of the latter, and not the sort that I expect to dissipate. Fans of Clos des Ursules who maintain a vertical collection should be aware that the team here elected to bottle the small amount of 2007 (which I did not taste) exclusively in magnum. Given the extremely reasonable pricing of Jadot wines in recent years – owned by their importer, they no doubt enjoy a unique degree of flexibility thanks to vertical integration – the many excellent Jadot 2005s (for cellaring) and 2006s that remain in the marketplace are where I would look for some of Burgundy’s best Pinot values. None of the Jadot 2008s were bottled before March, but I re-tasted some of them in late April after they had been bottled, which explains the presence of limited non-parenthetic ratings. The extent of declassification or anticipated declassification in the interest of quality in 2008 spoke volumes about Jadot’s quality-consciousness, but rendered a few of the samples I tasted – even last April –indicative of vintage quality here as a whole, rather only vaguely indicative of the wines that would eventually be bottled under a given village-designated label. For example, I tasted a village Pommard representative of an assemblage of 60 barrels, but into this Lardiere planned to blend no fewer than 20-25 barrels from assorted Pommard premier crus. There will also be a village Beaune for the U.S. market, incidentally, assembled from barrels of premier cru, but also not yet assembled when I tasted. Importer: Kobrand, Inc., New York, NY; tel.(212) 490-9300

Good saturated, deep red. Slightly high-toned aromas of black fruits and violet. At once supple and minerally, showing sweet fruit but also a firm underlying spine. This very young wine has the structure for a leisurely development in bottle.

The premier cru of Les Beaux Monts lies astride the border between Vosne-Romanée and Flagey-Échezeaux, at the western edge of the communes. It consists of two parcels on each side (variously referred to as hauts, or upper, and bas, or lower), with those in Vosne covering 4.4 hectares and those in Flagey covering 7 hectares. Warmly spiced and inviting. Sweetly oaked in a way that highlights the red cherry fruit. Fine firmness and a touch of pepper on the palate. Delicious and long and yet freshly perfumed beyond the spice. Moreish. (JH)