The Duboeuf 2010 Fleurie Clos des Garants reflects its location (just below Poncie and adjacent to the Moulin-a-Vent appellation) in a serious, meaty, pan dripping, smokily black tea undertone to its pure ripe cherry and boysenberry fruit, as well as a relative abundance of fine-grained tannins. This inexplicably blows past the same wine’s 2009 performance and promises to offer outstanding value as well as at least 3-4 years of interest. I just hope that bottling does not permanently aggravate its tannins. George Duboeuf and his estate-collaborators – for further general comments on whom consult my issue 190 report – harvested from mid-September into the first week of October and pronounced themselves reasonably satisfied with the size of their crop as well as its quality. Most of the fruit came in at between 12-12.5% alcohol, with only a small share being chaptalized. And while the manner of extraction typically practiced chez Duboeuf strikes me as serving for rather uniformly deep colors, Duboeuf remarked that the 2010s colored with particular, and surprising, ease. The percentage of wines bottled at the time of my June visit was, predictably, considerably higher than had been the case for the 2009s at the same point on the calendar. Observing conventions established in the aforementioned previous report, I have made reference to aging potential only for any wines that I expect might be worth following for longer than a couple of years, and where I have identified a wine solely by appellation, it represents a so-called “Selections Georges Duboeuf” cuvee, adorned with his company’s signature flower labels. I also tasted on this occasion several late-released, wooded “prestige” bottlings – rendered in 1,000-2,500 volumes – which however were not destined to appear in U.S. markets.Importer: William Deutsch & Son Ltd., White Plains, NY; tel. (914) 251-9463