The Goisots’ 2008 Cotes d’Auxerre smells of peppermint, lemon, and oily, fusil suggestions of crushed local chalk that set the tone for its entire firmly textured but generously-flavored, long performance. Glycerin richness; hints of pit fruit sweetness; piquancy of fruit pit and coffee; along with mouth-watering salinity, all add to the complex appeal of a wine that – as have several of its recent predecessors – seems to set a new standard for this particular bottling and render it one of the region’s outstanding values, likely to perform well for at least another 3-4 years. Extreme millerandage characterized his family’s 2008 crop, explains Guilhem Goisot, and even if one did not know that, it is easy to imagine the concentration of tiny, sparse berries when one tastes the superb collection rendered here this year. Yet even with these low yields, 2008 was not the vintage to threaten too much of a good thing, and the natural sugars sufficed for a collection of Chardonnay weighing in entirely between 12-13% alcohol from ripe, healthy fruit.Thomas Calder Selections (various importers), Paris; fax 011-33-1-46-45-15-29; also imported by Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA, tel. (510) 559-1040