2012 Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru

(from 80-year-old vines): Good red-ruby. Blackberry, espresso and crushed stone on the nose. Tightly wound and youthfully closed for this cuvee, boasting excellent inner-mouth tension to its black raspberry and espresso flavors. Dense and rich but austere today; this is far behind the Beaux Monts in its evolution in barrel. Almost 2010-like in style.

The 2012 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru is a blend of two lieux-dits: “Les Fuesselottes” (0.12-hectares) and “Les Chatelots” (0.23-hectares). It has a very refined bouquet with superb mineralite and focus, outclassing even the Les Beaux Monts. The palate is very harmonious with a sorbet-like freshness – clean lines here, with a lovely prickle of acidity and a composed, sophisticated finish that is utterly seamless. This would be my pick of Confuron’s 2012s this year in terms of quality to price. My final visit of the day was to Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron, just up the Route Nationale from Domaine de l’Arlot in Premeaux-Prissey. It took me a while to engineer the car into the courtyard since a man-eating hound refused to budge out of the way of the vehicle. It would probably not go down well with winemaker, Alain Meunier, had I run the mutt over. Alain’s father-in-law was Jean-Jacques Confuron, a quietly spoken gentleman who has done much to make this one of the most sought after domaines in Nuits Saint Georges. The domaine includes 8.5-hectares of vines in the Cote de Nuits that have been farmed organically since 1989, the portfolio crowned by a parcel in Romanee-Saint-Vivant, a thin but precious strip to the north of the climat, sandwiched between Alain Hudelot-Noellat and Lalou Bize-Leroy. Though usually most of the fruit is de-stemmed, Alain told me that this year the premier and grand crus include 20% whole clusters. The use of new oak here is quite pronounced relative to others: 30% for the village crus, between 40% and 50% for the premier crus and over 60% for the grand crus, but I did not find it excessive and it was beautifully knitted into the fabric of these 2012s, especially his sumptuous grand crus that should easily age over 20 or 30 years. I look forward to visiting once again - mindful of not running over the dog of course. Importer: J.A.O. Wine Importers, 1507 Hampton Hill Circle, McLean (VA) Tel 1 703 628 9615. Also available in UK at Enotria Winecellars Lts. and Ballantynes of Cowbridge.