Philippe Roty's 2006 Marsannay Champs St.-Etienne (from an iron-rich site with only one other owner) has a hard act to follow in the form of a highly distinctive 2005, but it rises to the challenge. Lovely ripe dark cherry fruit and deep carnal notes in the nose migrate onto a creamy palate that conveys a sense of invigoration thanks to the tart edge of the berries and a sense of chalk dust impingement. This is one of those 2006 vintage instances of high extract and ripeness going hand in hand with lift and elegance. It should be fascinating to employ over the next 4-6 years. By the way, if the plan afoot goes through to create premier crus in Marsannay, the tiny Clos St.-Etienne would be required to take the less-than-euphonious name of its larger – albeit virtually unknown – neighbor Genelieres. This gives you a broad hint as to what Philippe Roty – who in my experience bottles more cru-quality Marsannay than anyone else – thinks of that plan! "What's needed in Marsannay," he quips, "isn't premier crus. It's low yields, hand harvesting, and triage." Philippe Roty is among the many growers to assert that under-ripe fruit rather than rot was what really drove his 2006 selection process. "But, hail or no hail, I do a strict triage regardless; and besides" he notes with a laugh, "it hails every year in at least one part of Marsannay." He picked in a relative hurry the last week of September, because "as far as I'm concerned, above 13% potential alcohol you have surmaturite, and that's not good." Besides, like the Mugneret sisters and a considerable number of other top-notch growers, Roty favors routinely – if only slightly – chaptalizing his entire range to promote longer and, he believes, flavor- and texture-enhancing fermentation. (While I have mentioned in the text of my tasting notes those wines that are part of the personal domaine of Philippe Roty and bottled under his name, I have not reflected this in the naming of the wines, as the same label is used for those as for the Domaine Joseph Roty wines and they are all vinified and aged together by the same team.) Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173