The Goisot 2007 Cotes d’Auxerre Gondonne (to reiterate what I wrote in issue 179) grows on an unusually dense, south-exposed melange of Marne clay and fossil-rich Kimmeridgian limestone that is planted largely with a selection of vines from Raveneau. Musk, scallop, and otherwise animalistic notes mingle in the nose with sea breezes. The suggestions of scallop and shrimp shell reduction are striking on a dense palate. Piquant toasted nuttiness and salinity both lend considerable invigoration, and an aura of animal as well as mineral mystery accrues to this wine’s long finish. I would anticipate a half dozen or more years of fascination. Guilhem Goisot (whose name has now replaced that of his mother in this estate’s official title) echoed the sentiments of many regional growers that the grapes – while already adequately high in sugar at the end of August – were simply not ripe. But time was on an Auxerrre vintner’s side in 2007, and the Goisots were able to pick selectively, parcel by parcel, for three weeks, as compared with nine days in 2006. Their single-vineyard bottlings came close to 13.5% in natural alcohol, those few lots that approached 14% having been consigned to blends. Sauvignon, with its characteristically southwestern exposures (hail-free this year), was picked last – albeit already mid-September – and adequately ripe.Thomas Calder Selections (various importers), Paris; fax 011-33-1-46-45-15-29