The Girardin 2006 Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatieres offers peach and purple plum accented with lemon zest and crushed stone. Less effusive and sweetly-fruited than many of the other wines in this collection, it offers nutty piquancy, faintly bitter fruit pit notes, and distinct stoniness in a long, just faintly warm finish. Expect this to need a year or two in bottle to show its true colors, and hopefully it will have at least 6 years of aging potential.
I tasted a wide selection including all of the top crus of Vincent Girardin’s truly vast output (from nearly fifty acres of vines plus a wide range of contracts as negociant), the wines having been pre-assembled from barrel for my tasting (hence the wide point spreads). Girardin is at pains to press very gently and he did only limited lees-stirring in 2006. He favors 20, 30, and 40% new wood for his village, premier cru, and grand cru wines, respectively.
Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802.