2012 Chambolle Musigny Hauts Doix

The 2012 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Hauts Doix has a linear and very conservative bouquet. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp tannins and brambly red fruit, though the finish is straight-laced and does not quite "take off" in the same fashion as the other Chambolle premier crus. It is always a pleasure to visit the indefatigable Mounir Saouma at his hideaway winery just off the Beaune periphique. He is a winemaker you can jest with, and he is often victim of my sardonic Essex humor (for example, when enthusing about obtaining one of five barrels of a premier cru, I dryly enquired whether the other four were sold off for distillation - I would not say that to Aubert de Villaine.) And I appreciate Mounir's wines. They used to taste a little too fat and almost over-powering in their youth, but I think he is fine-tuning his reductive winemaking style, achieving more freshness and vitality. I tasted his 2012 reds since the whites were still undergoing malolactic. Among the tidal wave of opinions, one that he emphasized was that to capture the quality of the vintage under cork, the wines should be bottled late, and not in spring when Burgundy will resound to the clinking of glass. Mounir also told me that he paid 50% more from wines in 2012 than in 2011, but that he intends to keep prices within 15% increase. Importers: Vintus LLC, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (914) 769-3000, Atherton Imports, Menlo Park, CA; tel. (650) 328-6639

Medium red. Aromas of red raspberry, creme de cassis and smoked meat show an almost syrupy ripeness. Very fresh and wild, with almost Musigny-like complexity to the vibrant, sharply delineated red fruit, wild herb, spice, crushed rock and mineral flavors. Finishes with terrific mineral energy. A great example of this premier cru.

Simply haunting in its beauty, the 2012 Chambolle-Musigny Les Hauts Doix is a model of elegance and pure class. All the elements are simply in the right place. Striking aromatics meld into silky, expressive fruit laced with sweet, perfumed notes that are woven throughout. The 2012 remains round and caressing through to the finish, showing exceptional balance and harmony. I imagine the Hauts Doix will provide a wide window of superb drinking. Today, it is stunning, to say the least.