The 2007 Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes – representing a mere four barrels (i.e.100 cases) even in this relatively generous vintage – smells alluringly of pear distillate, nutmeg, almond extract, heliotrope, and honeysuckle. It comes onto the palate with pear nectar and luscious, bright grapefruit and lemon, persistently wreathed in floral perfume and underlain with saline, chalky suggestions of things mineral. This is even richer and more refined than the corresponding Chalumeaux, if slightly less intriguing, and I would anticipate its being worth following for the better part of a decade.
Thierry Matrot defied not just convention, but also my attempts to make sense of the 2007 vintage – forcing me, ultimately, to simply treat him as an exception – since he proudly confessed to a Chardonnay harvest that began in the last days of August, yet the results are simply superb, not to mention far more distinctively delicious than those he obtained in 2006 (when – again in contrarian fashion – he picked late). And he rendered his outstanding 2007s – he claims – without chaptalization, the wines finishing in the upper 12s of percent alcohol. "2005 and 2005 were more honeyed and rich, but 2007 corresponds more to my style of cuisine," says Matrot, adding that while he harvested 2004 late, those wines were not as ripe as these 2007s, which he is more inclined to compare with 2002. Matrot bottles early – usually immediately after racking and assembling (although very late malos in 2008 threatened to wreck havoc with that habit) – and, incidentally, has been so pleased with his experimental use of screw cap closures (including for all of his half bottles since vintage 2004) that he has now expanded their use to incorporate his village wine in 750.
Importers: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802 and Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel. (212) 419-1400
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