2006 - Chambolle-Musigny Vieille Vigne, Fourrier

From 80-year-old vines in the Les Monbies vineyard, Fourrier's 2006 Chambolle Musigny features tart fresh cherry accented with lemon peel green herbs. There is however less sheer fresh fruit juiciness in evidence here than the initial tartness and almost white wine-like attack led me to believe; and a small amount of extraneous, lip-numbing astringency here may or may not ease-up with time in bottle. In consequence, this displays overall austerity, despite its impressively stubborn palate persistence. I'd want to revisit it before pronouncing on its mid- or longer-term future. Eyebrows as well as stakes in the Burgundy-buying game were raised when the prices of certain Fourrier 2006s came out well above those of 2005. Time will of course tell whether this new positioning "sticks," but there can be no overlooking either the consistently excellent results Jean-Marie Fourrier achieves, nor the extreme paucity and remarkable quality of his two most celebrated bottlings, particularly in this vintage. Jean-Claude Fourrier – with whom I tasted the majority of his son's 2006s – told me that contrary to usual practice here, the stems were removed from all of the fruit this year, because none were really ripe (i.e. truly lignified). (For more about Fourrier's always articulately and thoughtfully expressed methods, consult my report in issue 170.) Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990