Representing an exciting new fruit contract for him (from the same grower as his Pitures), Pethel’s 2008 Volnay Taillepieds evinces clove- and cinnamon-spiced purple plum and dark cherry; a fine-grained tanninity and transparency to spice, chalk and peat; an up welling of rich meat stock; and a finish of considerable depth. Expect this to be worth cellaring for at least a decade. Asked which of the vintages was more challenging, North Carolina ex-pat Blair Pethel just laughs at first and then says: “I lost more fruit to the tri in ‘07 than I did in ‘08. We had to rush in ‘07 because fruit was rotting on the vines. In ‘08, after the north wind came up and the sun came out, you could wait, and the rot dried out.” I tasted the ‘08s here already at the end of February, just before they were assembled into tank for an expected May bottling. They had lost a bit of color to recent sulfuring, which I suspect had also slightly depressed their fruit, hopefully only temporarily. (In 2009, Pethel practiced an incremental regimen of sulfuring instead.) For more details on his operation – which is a “domaine” only by trademark, as he contracts for most of his fruit – please consult issue 180, where I first reported on the whites, which are show-stoppers in 2008, incidentally, just as they were in 2007. A Becky Wasserman Selection (various importers), Le Serbet; fax 011- 333-80-24-29-70; Pas Mal Selections, New York, NY; tel. (201) 567 2028, Schneider’s of Capital Hill, Washington, DC tel. (202) 543 9300 and Chelsea Ventures,1601 South Canal Street, Chicago, Illinois 60616 tel (847) 920-5052

Even as fine as the Pitures is, this goes it one better as the ultra-elegant nose of red pinot fruit and wet stone is a positive knockout. The intense, delineated and attractively spicy middle weight flavors also exude an almost pungent minerality and are supported by very fine and dusty tannins. This is long, classy and simply terrific.