2008 Chambolle Musigny

Dujac’s estate 2008 Chambolle-Musigny – which I have not tasted since it was in barrel in February – is pungently scented with sage, incense, and resin in part reflective of reduction, but displays impressive grip and persistence as well as admirable ripeness. This comes from the premier cru Sentiers and neighboring (village-ranked) Les Brazey and hopefully will show further complexity as well as greater polish from bottle. The Dujac 2008s were not racked until last December, and bottling took place January through March. “The malic acid numbers were high-ish, but not significantly higher than in, say, 2006 or 2001,” says Jeremy Seysses in an effort to explain what he admitted were “for us, excessively late malos. I have a feeling it was a lack of nutrients that were wash out,” he continues, since, after all, “it rained a lot in 2008” with, he adds, “poor fruit set proving to be the vintage’s saving grace. I think we would actually have had less to harvest (i.e. worth keeping) if we had had a better fruit set. There was rot, but can you find it in any of the wines? That’s a credit to how far Burgundy has come along in terms of sorting” (which Dujac does exclusively in the vineyard, not on sorting tables – the name of their U.S. importer ironically notwithstanding). “I didn’t love my lack of options in 2007,” says Seysses of the preceding season, “so we picked early – earlier even than in 2003.” In vinification “we decided not to force too much, and just to keep it charming,” which is exactly how I thought the wines turned out. “At Domaine Dujac, we’re never been that attached to deep color, so we’re quite tolerant (in that regard), and the least thing we wanted to do was make hard wines. I de-stemmed more (than usual, or than in 2008). The fruit felt fragile, so in barrel I kept the wines under a bit more free sulfur than usual, which reinforced their lightness.” Seysses opines that 2007 was not a year in which old selections displayed their overall superiority to clones, because “if yo(‘re Pinots) were riper earlier, you were ripe while it was raining,” whereas in 2008 you could scarcely get too much ripeness. Importer: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel. (415) 491-4724

(these three negociant wines finished their malos at the beginning of October and were sulfited a couple weeks before my visit) Good full red. Musky, reduced nose. Offers good sweetness if not the fruit intensity of the Morey, but comes across as a bit gassy today, with its somewhat tougher tannins not yet integrated. Conveys a saline impression of extract.

Quite broad and perfumed. Still a little fizzy and definitely racy, on the skinny side but if you know how Chambolle should taste, you can certainly see a light rendition of it here. Not sure you could work from this to an understanding of Chambolle. (JR)