2007 Savigny Les Beaune La Dominode

Clair's 2007 Savigny-Les-Beaune La Dominode delivers sour cherry and cranberry that would seem more familiar in the context of 2008, although this lacks the vivacity of the best wines of that vintage. Peat-like smokiness, pungent herbal inflections, and a surprising load of tannin add to a rather dour though palate-staining impression that follows into an impressively sustained finish. Here is a possible exception to the vintage rule and a wine worth setting aside for 2-3 years, while anticipating that it will certainly remain vital through age 10. Bruno Clair and Philippe Brun report that they had to warm their cellar to encourage the primary fermentations of their 2008s, and their 2009s were already into malo before the 2008s finished. In consequence, even their Marsannays from the latter vintage had only been assembled the day I visited them in February. (Other wines were recently assembled or still in barrel, as noted in the text, and most were destined for May bottling.) The 2008 harvest here did not commence until the beginning of October. "You had mature sugars," says Clair echoing a frequent refrain, "but not mature skins or pips." Quantities were almost shockingly small this year, the Gevrey Crus ranging between 20-25 hectoliters per hectare, and there is certainly no lack of structure in what for now present themselves as a somewhat severely concentration collection. Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802