Produced from vines planted in 1992, the 2001 Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes was suffering from reduction (a chemical state in which the wine’s molecules are lacking oxygen, reflected by burnt rubber-like aromas and flavors) when I visited the estate. On the palate, this wine is suave, light to medium-bodied and well-balanced. With aeration, appealing notes of candied citrus and pears could be discerned. As this wine is racked and handled prior to bottling, its reductive characteristics are sure to blow-off, resulting in a broader, more expressive personality. Projected maturity: now-2009. To Jacques Carillon, this estate’s winemaker, “the 2001s are wines of richness and fat, with round personalities and excellent balance. They have a great deal in common with the 2000s.” This highly-respected estate’s winemaking philosophies include leaving the wines to ferment on their lees for a year in barrel, then racking them with only the finest lees into stainless steel vats in the August following the harvest. Six months later, in February, the wines are fined, then racked again in March before being filtered and bottled. The estate’s village offering has a slightly shorter elevage, and is bottled in January. Importers: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802; Neal Rosenthal Wine Merchant, New York, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990; Wine Markets International, Woodbury, NY; tel. (516) 364-1850; and, for the “Cuvee Nicole”, the same wine as the village Puligny-Montrachet, Kysela Pere et Fils, Fran Kysela, Winchester, VA; tel. (540) 722-9228