The 2006 Beaune Clos St.-Landry – a Bouchard monopole planted in Chardonnay for generations – features green tea, candied lemon zest, pineapple, and honey on a lovely nose and generously juicy palate, finishing with elegant, genuinely fascinating persistence of tea, citrus, and stony mineral elements. It should remain ravishing at least through 2012. In keeping with what he says are his usual intuitions, Philippe Prost picked early – bringing in Chardonnay ahead of Pinot Noir for the first time at Bouchard since 1989 – so as to retain freshness as well as what he termed “the sense of minerality in a vintage of very ripe fruit. But in 1989,” he hastens to add, “yields were perhaps overly generous, whereas in 2006 they are quite reasonable.” The results are consistently impressive. New barrels are generally “seasoned” here through use in wines of lesser appellation (other portions of which are frequently raised in tank), as Prost prefers to employ second year barrels for most of his crus. Injections of inert gas at bottling are among the techniques being used to protect the young wines here from oxidation. Importer: Henriot, Inc, New York, NY

Coming from a small 5-acre clos owned entirely by Bouchard Pere, this a ripe wine, with wood dominating the aromas, but then allowing its spicy character to be balanced by delicious, crisp but ripe pear flavors. It is a rounded wine, offering full Chardonnay, kept in check by acidity.——R.V.(10/1/2008)—— 92