The Clair 2006 Marsannay Vaudenelles – last tasted assembled just prior to bottling –admirably demonstrates the care taken by Clair and his team in this vintage, as it is more expressive than the 2005. Fresh cherry tinged with cherry pit, iodine, wet stone, and herbs inform the nose as well as a bright, pure-fruited, refreshing palate. While this is not tremendously complex, it's admirably refined and lip-smacking, reminding me of the best Marsannay rose, except in red. I would drink it up by early 2011. The inherently more structured Grasse Tetes bottling – which was given a measure of new wood – came up a bit stiff and superfluously astringent.
Bruno Clair and cellar master Philippe Brun have a battery of 1,500 liter upright fermentation casks as well as larger ovals, which permit more wines to depart small barrels sooner but not have to go into tanks. And in 2006 (or for that matter 2007), they concurred that preservation of fruit and preventing the wood from drying it out were paramount considerations. (In fact, the Marsannay cuvees were still not yet bottled when I last tasted them in the Spring of 2008.) Picking here, by the way, lasted from September 23 through October 4, and the results certainly speak emphatically for themselves.
Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802
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