Black tea, wood smoke, and brown spices mingle in the pungent nose of Pacalet's 2006 Nuits-St.-Georges, which comes onto the palate with a bittersweet, faintly caramelized amalgam of pit fruit, fruit pit, and toasted pecan. The bitter elements here emerge to more prominence in the finish, and given the wine's relatively light weight and spare texture, there is not much to buffer that bitterness. Still, this offers a distinctively low-toned, spicy satisfaction and admirable sheer length. I would opt for drinking it within 2-3 years. The elevage for his 2006s was a bit precocious, says Pacalet, though this was not for want of his trying to slow things down and give the wines time to fatten on their lees. In most essentials, however – including his fidelity to whole clusters and stems and abhorrence of sulfur – Pacalet treated this crop much as he had its illustrious 2005 predecessor. (For further details on Pacalet's unorthodox methods, readers are encouraged to consult my report in issue 171. And please be aware that these wine demand ideal storage in order not to risk spoilage.) Importer: Louis/Dressner Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 334 8191