Cooler and lower-energy than the corresponding Jarollieres, Boillot’s 2008 Pommard Rugiens excels in the department of texture – with polish and refined tannins – and boasts saliva-inducing, saline finishing savor. Ripe purple plum, licorice, and fresh beef juices mingle in a satisfying but unemphatic statement. I imagine this being worth following for 8-10 years, and would of course welcome its defying my rather modest expectations. Focused on wines of precision and brightness (whether in white or red) Jean-Marc Boillot perpetuated his practice of early harvesting in 2007 with an August 20 start! The natural stylistic proclivity of the 2008 vintage (I did not taste the ‘07 reds here) seems to me to suit his aesthetic to a tee. But was it wise to heighten that in a year of marginal ripeness by harvesting already on September 20? My notes (limited to seven of ten Boillot ‘08 reds that I tasted) answer this question: “probably not.” I can’t believe these would not have been even better for a bit longer on the vine. I don’t doubt Boillot’s assurances, though, that he was scrupulously selective about what he retained to ferment, even with early picking, and it’s clear he was cautious about extraction. In terms of personality, several of these 2008s – all of which were bottled in December – seemed anxious to pass for white. But in writing about them, I confess that a question gnaws at me: Am I simply so spoiled – without being fully conscious of this – by years of increasing ripeness in red Burgundy as to be unfairly impatient with this collection? If, courtesy of time travel, I could revisit the Pommards of the 1980s chez Andre Mussy (whom I revered and a few of whose now old wines I cherish), would I today have the same relatively censorious opinion? Importers: A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet; fax 011- 333-80-24-29-70 and Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802

From octogenarian vines, Boillot's 2006 Pommard Rugiens smells of wood smoke, tobacco, and game; comes to the palate palpably dense, expansive, and with fine-grained tannins; and finishes emphatically with smoked meat, game, peat, and chalk dust. This is definitely not about fruits and berries. It should be fascinating to follow for the next 5-7 years. Jean-Marc Boillot started harvesting reds (which constitute nearly half of his acreage) on September 22, immediately after finishing (in a great hurry) with his whites; using all 60 pickers he had in place; and finishing in 72 hours. Already by that time, a significant share of fruit had to be culled out for rot, while another share was unripe, so the yields ended up a pathetic 18 hectoliters per hectare. He adapted his vinification to the material by trying to be even gentler than in 2005, albeit for a different reason. A regimen of 40-50% new wood was maintained from 2005, though, and while I cannot say that any wines were overtly woody, given the fragile fruit and coarse tannin structure of several in this collection, I have to wonder about the advisability of that approach. Importers: A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet; fax 011- 333-80-24-29-70 and Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802