Last tasted from a sampling of barrels, the Boillot 2008 Pommard Les Croix Noires - from old vines in this tiny, obscure cru - displays juicier primary fruit (blueberry and blackberry) and a greater sense of elegance and transparency to mineral and woodsy complexities than do most of its stable mates. Peat and chalk notes inform the clinging finish of this Pommard that is it's true a bit youthfully austere, but is likely to reward revisiting over the next 6-8 years at least. Pierre Boillot - Lucien's grandson, for details on whose history, properties, and connection with other Boillots, see issues and 186 and 170 - noted that his Cote de Beaune fruit required more rigorous sorting in 2008 than did that from the Cote de Nuits, and the former resulted in several wines of relatively aggressive astringency. I tasted his 2008s prior to their March and April bottlings, and (except where noted) assembled from tank. (Unfortunately, shortage of time kept me from tasting Boillot's 2007s.)Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524

Boillot's 2006 Pommard Les Croix Noires – from 60-70 year old vines in a tiny cru with only a few proprietors, wedged between Fremiers and the village – smells of blackberry, cedar, and smoked meat. With bittersweet black fruit and fruit pit concentration and Pommard-typical smoky and somehow seemingly ferrous pungency, this saturates the palate, spreading fine-grained tannins in the wake of its mineral- and spice-tinged fruit. A serious, well-structured Pommard cru, it should be worth following for the better part of a decade, and is probably best not revisited until 2011. I'm at a loss to explain why Boillot's Pommards as a group proved significantly more attractive as well as accessible than his Volnay – especially given that the latter commune seems generally to have been spared more of the rain-engendered problems of the 2006 vintage – so it will be interesting to compare them in a subsequent vintage. Pierre Boillot (grandson of Lucien) vinified and marketed together until 2003 with his slightly older brother Louis (who now shares facilities with his wife Ghislaine Barthod, and most of the same appellations as Pierre, and on whose outstanding wines I reported in issue 170 and again in this issue). They then separated their shares of inheritance, which include equally prime acreage in both Cotes, thanks to Lucien having long ago left his family's Volnay estate (now Domaine Henri Boillot) to stake his own claim in Gevrey. My first visit to taste here convinced me that this address and Pierre Boillot's talent should be known to all Burgundy lovers. Pierre Boillot lays great store by lees enrichment, never bottling before the second spring, and then without filtration.Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524

From 60-year-old, tiny-berried vines in an obscure and tiny Premier Cru just south of town, Boillot’s 2005 Pommard Les Croix Noires offers aromas of red raspberry and blueberry, with a pure palate impression of bright, snappy red fruit uncannily allied to creaminess of texture. Inner-mouth florality and medicinal bitter herbal notes add complexity. This finishes with fine, penetrating fruit intensity and a long, lean line of chalk. Also recommended: 2005 Fixin (unknown; 85-87). Having moved from Volnay to a newly-expanded facility he shares with his wife, Ghislaine Barthod, Louis Boillot fields a large and geographically diverse range of generally impressive, pure-fruited Pinots. (In rating them, I have left some leeway to allow for my previous unfamiliarity with Louis Boillot’s wines.)Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990.