2008 Domaine Dujac Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru

The Dujac 2008 Morey-St.-Denis 1er Cru (as usual, issuing from Les Ruchots, Les Sorbets, Millandes, and Charrieres) mingles sage, black tea, pungent cumin, and ripe plum and black raspberry fruit, all of which follow on a sleek, palate and long finish that nicely balances pungency with sweetness. It should merit 7-9 years of attention. The Dujac 2008s were not racked until last December, and bottling took place January through March. “The malic acid numbers were high-ish, but not significantly higher than in, say, 2006 or 2001,” says Jeremy Seysses in an effort to explain what he admitted were “for us, excessively late malos. I have a feeling it was a lack of nutrients that were wash out,” he continues, since, after all, “it rained a lot in 2008” with, he adds, “poor fruit set proving to be the vintage’s saving grace. I think we would actually have had less to harvest (i.e. worth keeping) if we had had a better fruit set. There was rot, but can you find it in any of the wines? That’s a credit to how far Burgundy has come along in terms of sorting” (which Dujac does exclusively in the vineyard, not on sorting tables – the name of their U.S. importer ironically notwithstanding). “I didn’t love my lack of options in 2007,” says Seysses of the preceding season, “so we picked early – earlier even than in 2003.” In vinification “we decided not to force too much, and just to keep it charming,” which is exactly how I thought the wines turned out. “At Domaine Dujac, we’re never been that attached to deep color, so we’re quite tolerant (in that regard), and the least thing we wanted to do was make hard wines. I de-stemmed more (than usual, or than in 2008). The fruit felt fragile, so in barrel I kept the wines under a bit more free sulfur than usual, which reinforced their lightness.” Seysses opines that 2007 was not a year in which old selections displayed their overall superiority to clones, because “if yo(‘re Pinots) were riper earlier, you were ripe while it was raining,” whereas in 2008 you could scarcely get too much ripeness. Importer: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel. (415) 491-4724

(from four different plots, the most important of which is Ruchots) Good deep red. Very aromatic, oak-influenced nose combines cherry and sexy brown spices. Supple, sweet and bright, with lovely energy and lift to the black fruit and violet flavors. Finishes with a chocolatey ripeness and very good length. Expressive considering it was sulfured last week. This may well merit a score at the top end of my projected range.