Boillot’s 2011 Chassagne-Montrachet shows the pretty, delicate side of the village. Dried pears, apricots and crushed flowers all meld together. The Chassagne is elegant, refined and impeccably polished. Burnished overtones add complexity on the finish. Anticipated maturity: 2012+. (Not yet released)Henri Boillot recently finished his move to a new modern cellar in Champ Lins, one of the industrial sections of Meursault. Boillot describes his 2011s as having a bit more richness and better balance of fruit and acidity than the 2010s. Based on what I tasted, it’s hard to argue that point. Boillot seems to be one case where the 2011s have the potential to be better across the board than the 2010s. As is often the case here, the village wines are particularly strong.Importers: Massanois Imports, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 470-6769, Cynthia Hurley French Wines, West Newton, MA Tel 617-965-4251 www.cynthiahurley.com and Chelsea Ventures, LLC, 1601 South Canal St, Chicago, IL 60616 tel. 847-920-5052

Boillot’s 2010 Chassagne-Montrachet wraps around the palate with ripe pears, apricots, dried flowers and licorice, all given burnished shades of tonality and color. This is an especially large-scaled village-level wine. The round, inviting finish makes this an excellent choice for drinking over the next few years. Anticipated maturity: 2012+. (Not yet released)Henri Boillot recently finished his move to a new modern cellar in Champ Lins, one of the industrial sections of Meursault. Boillot describes his 2011s as having a bit more richness and better balance of fruit and acidity than the 2010s. Based on what I tasted, it’s hard to argue that point. Boillot seems to be one case where the 2011s have the potential to be better across the board than the 2010s. As is often the case here, the village wines are particularly strong.Importers: Massanois Imports, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 470-6769, Cynthia Hurley French Wines, West Newton, MA Tel 617-965-4251 www.cynthiahurley.com and Chelsea Ventures, LLC, 1601 South Canal St, Chicago, IL 60616 tel. 847-920-5052

The 2009 Chassagne-Montrachet emerges from the glass with striking aromatics. It shows gorgeous transparency in a fairly restrained style of Chassagne built more on finesse than power. Anticipated maturity: 2012+. This is a beautiful set of wines from Henri Boillot’s negociant line. The entry-level wines in particular offer fabulous value. If anything, those are the most interesting wines here. When tasting Burgundy it is tempting to assume that premier crus are better than villages, and grand crus are better than the premiers, but that is often not the case, especially in a warm vintage where lesser sites ripened to a greate extent than is typically possible. Shrewd readers will find many jewels in this lineup, but they won’t be in the most likely places. In 2011 Boillot will have several new wines in his range, including Referts and Combettes. The 2009 villages were bottled in November, while the premier crus were bottled in January 2011.Importer: Various US importers, including Massanois Imports, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 470-6769