2009 - Richebourg Grand Cru, Alain Hudelot-Noellat

Full medium red. Sweet, deep aromas of raspberry, strawberry and smoky minerality. Large-scaled, seamless and wonderfully full but still very young, with dark berry and crushed stone flavors complemented by brown spices and saline soil tones. Most impressive today on the very long, firm finish, which features extremely fine tannins. (The Suchots shows a higher-pitched floral character today, but these tannins are nobler and riper.) This should reward extended bottle aging. Indeed, Charles van Canneyt believes that, despite the dominant warm-vintage character shown by so many 2009s in the early gong, the terroirs will come back after 10 or 12 years.

The 2009 Richebourg shows marvelous persistence, depth and power. Not surprisingly, this is a rather inward, tightly coiled wine. With time in the glass, endless nuances of sweet herbs, mint, anise and crushed flowers add complexity to the fruit. This shows terrific depth and incisiveness in a totally convincing style. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2034. I tasted the following wines with Charles Van Canneyt, Alain Hudelot’s grandson. Van Canneyt showed me a few 2008s before moving into the 2009s. The estate did some chaptalization in 2008. Based on the selection of wines I tasted, that may have robbed some of the 2008s of their vintage character. Vintage 2009 seems to have played more to the estate’s strengths. The estate used 50% new oak for the Grand Crus and 30% for the 1ers. Importer: Atherton Imports, Menlo Park, CA; tel. (650) 328-6639