Game, leather, wood smoke, cocoa powder, caramel, and creme de cassis mark the nose and of Ambroise’s 2008 Nuits St.-Georges Clos des Argillieres (which I last tasted assembled from tank), then collaborate for a palate-staining and ultimately surprisingly bright impression. There is a load of fresh sap drawn from somewhere despite the combination of liqueur-like dark berry sweetness; formidably dense if fine tannins; and strongly torrifactive notes from barrel. Pungently smoky and rather austerely stony elements add to the formidable and multifarious intensity of the finish. This should be worth following for 12-15 years. Bertrand Ambroise picked late and captured impressively ripe material in 2008, though the strident side of the vintage is sometimes still in evidence in the resultant wines, and not always comfortably married with the ambitious extraction and high quotient of new wood that characterize his regimen. (For further details concerning Ambroise’s methods, consult my report in issue 171.) I did not, regrettably, have chance to taste any of Ambroise’s 2007s, which he characterizes, predictably, as having been much more open early-on than his 2008s and as for the most part being ideal to drink young.Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 832-9083