Salt, stone, and iodine dominate even the nose of Colin's 2007 Saint-Aubin Le Charmois, though floral lemony elements lend interest and brightness. This is on the austere side, with stony mineral notes and peach kernel bitterness, but there is enough textural give to preserve if from hardness, and one cannot complain about either concentration or persistence. It will be worth revisiting in the course of 2010 and perhaps following for a couple of years thereafter.
Bruno Colin continues vinify his share of inheritance (modestly supplemented by contract fruit) in the family's ancient cellars, which now permit his wines longer time assembled in tank and later bottling. He says he did very little batonnage in 2007 (even less in 2006) and is treating his wines to higher levels of sulfur as a further precaution against pre-mature oxidation. (Some of these wines, incidentally, continue to be bottled under the Colin-Deleger label.)
Imported by Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 757-8185; Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel. (212) 419-1400; Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524