Marrying fruit from la Bouchere - a rocky, late-picked site high above the village - with fruit from near to the route nationale, Rossignol's 2006 Volnay displays generous, ripe blackberry and blueberry with chalky and saline mineral nuances and bitter-sweet (eventually liquid) floral perfume. Aromatic suggestions of sweetly-smoky machine oil and of mint and resin add further allure on the palate, engendering palate sensation that - while entirely free of superficial sweetness - suggests maple syrup having been drizzled over the fruit. This finishes with lovely persistence and elegance, reflecting a balance of richness and refreshment. It would be a shame to miss out on enjoying it early - or, for that matter, at all - but I would not be surprised to see it remain delicious for a half dozen years. "Excellent ripeness came late, but then very quickly," reports Nicolas Rossignol, who began harvested his 2006s already in mid September. "Volnay tends to be precocious, anyway," he adds, "and you have to consider the intensive way in which I've been working the vines lately, with very low yields and intensive canopy management. I wanted to preserve freshness and equilibrium." Rossignol reported that his intention had been to bottle his 2006s correspondingly early to preserve their fruit and refinement, but the mid-winter of 2007-2008 was so bitterly cold that they seized-up, and in the end he permitted them what, for him, is a normal 18 months' elevage. Deeming his fruit - which largely weighed in between 12 and just over 13% potential alcohol - to be healthy, he employed whole clusters and stems selectively, depending on how he thought the technique fit the particular appellation. Once again, I was unable to taste more than half of the roughly two dozen Rossignol's wines - traversing five communes - and he declined to show me this year's Fremiets or Taillepieds on the grounds of their respective three- and two-barrel total production. (That said, Rossignol very generously introduced me by means of a sample to the wines of his neighbor Jean-Marc Boulet - see under that name for my notes.) For further details on Rossignol and his approach to Pinot, see my report in issue 171. Importers: Martine's Wines. Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-0400; also a Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet (various importers); fax 011-333-80-24-29-70

Well-defined cherry and black currant flavors are matched to a fleshy texture in this appealing red, which firms up on the finish, but has plenty of fruit. Drink now through 2016. 275 cases made. -BS