Persian melon and raw almond in the nose of Drouhin’s 2007 Chassagne-Montrachet mingle with hints of honey, subtle salinity, and restrained notes of lanolin and vanilla from the barrel on a creamy yet refreshing palate. As with its village Meursault and Puligny counterparts, it’s hard to fault this as an appealing calling card for both its appellation and producer – provided, of course, one abstracts from the relatively high price that simply comes with Cote d’Or Chardonnay territory. I would plan on enjoying it over the next 2-3 years. Veronique Drouhin-Boss expressed enormous – and, in my view, justifiable – satisfaction with the 2007 crop of Drouhin whites, admitting that their sense of concentration might strike some observers as paradoxical given the vintage’s relatively high yields. Regular batonnage seems to have been a successful policy here, at least as judged by flattering textures and overt richness (almost atypically so for the vintage) short-term. For an account of Drouhin’s Chablis from 2007, consult the separate report on that region in this issue. Importer: Dreyfus-Ashby & Co., New York, NY; tel. (212) 818 0770