2006 Volnay Fremiets

Charlot's 2006 Volnay Les Fremiets displays combines bitter-edged black fruit with savory, subtly smoky meat stock, marrow, and pan scrapings appropriate to the site's proximity to Pommard. This is delicate on the palate, but – unlike the corresponding village-level bottlings – is not at all disturbed by aggressive tannin, and finishes with a combination of refreshment and carnality that should render it quite useful at table over at least the next 3-4 years. The characteristically crisply-edged Pinot style favored by Jean-Pierre Charlot resulted in a collection of generally bright, delicate, but lean and selectively astringent 2006s. Charlot says triage was needed for culling grapes that had been subjected July sunburn, as well as for eliminating under-ripeness and rot. He professed satisfaction with by the standards of the vintage relatively low natural alcohol levels of 11.5-12.5%, and chaptalized lightly. Only the Bourgogne was deemed to require filtration, and Charlot says he prefers paying the price of a bit higher dosage of SO2 to submitting his Pinots to that trauma. Importer: Vintage 59, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 966-9218