The 2010 Bourgogne Passetoutgrain L’Exception reveals a darker profile and more depth than the straight Passetoutgrains, largely owing to the old age (85+ years) of the wines in this parcel on the Volnay/Meursault border. White flowers and cracked pepper add complexity on the generous, juicy finish. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2018. Yields were down 40% in 2010 at Lafarge. According to Frederic Lafarge, a superb September saved a year marked by damp, cold weather during the flowering and later throughout the summer. On the positive side, the low yields per plant allowed the grapes to achieve full phenolic ripeness. The 2010s were racked in mid-August 2011 and were aging on their fine lees when I tasted them from barrel in November 2011. As pretty as the 2010s are, today I have a slight preference for the 2009s. That said, the 2010s are terrific, and many of the wines are at or near the top of their respective peer groups.A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet, various American importers, including: Martin Scott Wines, Little Neck, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808; Veritas Imports, Beverly Hills, CA; tel. (310) 205-3803; Toepfer Imports LLC, CO; tel. (303) 818-7640

The 2010 Bourgogne Passetoutgrain is an attractive wine at this level. Sweet floral notes are intermingled with juicy berries in this feminine, tasty red. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2016. Yields were down 40% in 2010 at Lafarge. According to Frederic Lafarge, a superb September saved a year marked by damp, cold weather during the flowering and later throughout the summer. On the positive side, the low yields per plant allowed the grapes to achieve full phenolic ripeness. The 2010s were racked in mid-August 2011 and were aging on their fine lees when I tasted them from barrel in November 2011. As pretty as the 2010s are, today I have a slight preference for the 2009s. That said, the 2010s are terrific, and many of the wines are at or near the top of their respective peer groups.A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet, various American importers, including: Martin Scott Wines, Little Neck, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808; Veritas Imports, Beverly Hills, CA; tel. (310) 205-3803; Toepfer Imports LLC, CO; tel. (303) 818-7640

The Lafarge 2008 Bourgogne Passetoutgrain L’Exception repeats the tart red raspberry fruit and invigorating personality exhibited by its “regular” sibling bottling, here with a vividness right down to the seeds, and with even stronger horseradish-like bite allied to salt and chalk in the finish. There is also more sense of substance. As usual, one can expect this bottling to offer good value in the context of red Burgundy. Furthermore, experience suggests that one can take one’s time, savoring this over the next 3-4 years. Frederic and Michel Lafarge are understandably enthusiastic about their admittedly millerandage-, hail-, and triage-reduced 2008 crop, but insisted that rot was not a significant problem. And even the hail, they report, was minimal in their portions of Clos des Chenes and Caillerets, being largely confined to certain village and generic sectors. All of the 2008s here (even of minor appellation) were still in barrel when I tasted them in March, and would, as usual at this address, be assembled only immediately before bottling. Malos were late here by the estate’s normal standards, but still largely finished by August, and the Lafarges insist that they did not have musts with unusually high levels of malic acidity, in regard to which Frederic observes that a matter of just a few days in picking date in 2008 could make a big chemical difference. Michel Lafarge opines that one needs several months after malo to let a young red Burgundy collect and express itself before one ought even to contemplate bottling, in light of which he cannot comprehend – much less agree with – the many growers who bottled 2008s during the winter. He also emphatically resists the suggestion that 2008 is, in any sense, a throwback to the old normalcy – a subject on which Michel Lafarge has to be one of Burgundy’s most seasoned experts – pointing out that there wasn’t really any need to chaptalize the 2008s, which came in largely in the upper 12s. (Alcohol levels were slightly higher in the impressive 2007s, nearly all of which were picked the first week in September.)A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet (various importers), fax 011-33-3-80-24-29-70