2006 Nuits St Georges Vieilles Vignes

Chocolate richness; ripe, tender, lightly-cooked black raspberry; and subtle suggestions of roasted meat characterize the Chevillon 2006 Nuits-St.-Georges Vieilles Vignes (aged in one and two year old barrels), a wine that - while it may not offer a lot of complexity (yet, anyway) - is uncommonly generous and sweetly seductive for its class. I see no reason to defer the pleasure of its company, but perhaps it will gain with a few years bottle age, and should certainly perform well for at least half a dozen. Given the superb track record of this estate's wines even in perceived weak and/or youthfully generous vintages - I think, for example, of the youthfully delicious 1992s I purchased at deeply-discounted prices and only recently finished enjoying - it would be foolish to admonish Burgundy lovers to drink their 2006s up early. Nevertheless, like so many of the best wines of this vintage, they are for the most part already on call - or very soon will be - to deliver generously. Bertrand Chevillon reports that little sorting was required above the level of village wines (the team here began picking Pinot September 22), and that while alcoholic fermentation was unusually protracted, the course of elevage from the standpoint of human interaction was unexceptional, save for backing off a pit on pigeage. Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524