From 40 and 60 year old parcels in another clay-rich site - this just north of Santenots du Milieu - Rossignol's 2006 Volnay Chevret (vinified largely with stems and whole clusters) is redolent of dark roasted coffee, dark chocolate, blackberry, dark cherry, and mulberry. Bitter-sweet and rich yet persistently juicy and bright on the palate, this hides and overrides its formidable, fine tannins. Suggestions of things mineral and carnal seem to be merely embryonic in the long finish here, but I expect further complexity to develop in this redoubtable Volnay over the next 6-8 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

Dark and juicy, sporting black cherry, bilberry, cassis and mineral flavors. Lively and intense, with fine tannins on the finish and a lingering aftertaste of black fruits. Drink now through 2020. 375 cases made. -BS