2006 Domaine Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin

The Rousseau 2006 Gevrey-Chambertin displays a fascinating and unusual aromatic melange of wood smoke, cola, cherry, and cocoa powder. While relatively light in color and body, it is brashly smoky and bitter sweet in finish, as well as downright refreshing. Eric Rousseau's own litany of its virtues – not an unfamiliar one among growers this vintage, or among Rousseau's comments on his other 2006s – is "equilibrium, vivacity, and finesse." I would recommend placing it at table based on its particular virtues, and doing so within the next 3-4 years ,although, naturally, this and other Rousseau 2006s might make a fool of me with its stamina. Since Eric Rousseau – as mentioned in my issue 170 run-down of his methodology – does not on principle utilize a sorting table, I imagined the aftermath of hail in 2006 presenting a special challenge to his pickers and to bottled quality, but it was one he and his team clearly surmounted. Clos de Beze, Griotte-, and Chapelle-Chambertin were the worst-effected, relates Rousseau, along with numerous of his village-level parcels. Potential alcohol levels are closer to 2003's record highs than they are to those of 2005, but the finished 2006s – while hardly as successful as their immediate predecessors – do not suffer any spirituous roughness or heat, and are thus free to effectively make their relatively light, bright, and in the best instances distinctive statements. Rousseau reports – and my limited opportunities for comparison confirm – that the initially rather austere and even brittle, disjointed personalities of these wines were ameliorated in the course of elevage, and the best of them have blossomed beautifully. (I was unable to taste several top wines here after bottling, so my notes on those are based on a representative sampling and blending from cask shortly before bottling.) Importer: Frederic Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700

A relatively elegant mix of red and blue fruit aromas nuanced with plenty of the pungent Gevrey earth that continues on to the round, supple and almost easy mid-weight flavors that are delicious and acceptably long. This should drink well on the early side. Allen Meadows, Burghound Jan01,2008