Pethel’s four barrels of 2006 Corton-Charlemagne (half of them new) represent the original acreage of his still tiny domaine. Lime fruit, chalk dust, iris, marine-like savor and salinity, and nutty richness delight the nose and envelop the palate in this long-finishing wine that combines elegance and polish with formidable underlying concentration. I suspect it will hold well for at least a dozen years.
After many years spent visiting Burgundy, North Carolina-born Blair Pethel became convinced of his calling as a vintner while working the harvest there in 1999 on a sabbatical from his career as a political journalist in Washington, DC. Five years later, he purchased his first vineyards and began Domaine Dublere. If his story sounds impossibly starry-eyed, a taste of what is in Pethel’s barrels will correct that impression. Working with small but prestigious holdings and selected suppliers of fruit from old vines, he is already achieving wines of startling finesse and clarity of flavor, in both white and red. Pethel harvested a week before the official ban de vendange and even then, he remarks, “I had to sort like a maniac. We had sixteen people on two sorting trays in 2006,” thanks to having friends who are self-proclaimed wine freaks inspired or crazy enough to volunteer. “My business plan is based on grand- and premier cru,” says Pethel without any tone of arrogance “so I have to build slowly.”
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