2008 Savigny Les Beaune La Dominode

Tasted from barrel, the Clair 2008 Savigny-Les-Beaune La Dominode is scented and flavored with dark cherry, almond extract, and hints of caramel reflecting its component of new wood. Cherry pit piquancy and brown spices add interest on the palate as the wine opens up, and it finishes with admirable length if a bit of detached resin and caramel. I suspect that this object lesson in the sensitivity of he vintage's Pinots to new wood will always be at least mildly bifurcated. But I've never known a Clair Dominode to be worthy of less than a decade's serious consideration, and this is apt to display more depth and complexity in a few years. Bruno Clair and Philippe Brun report that they had to warm their cellar to encourage the primary fermentations of their 2008s, and their 2009s were already into malo before the 2008s finished. In consequence, even their Marsannays from the latter vintage had only been assembled the day I visited them in February. (Other wines were recently assembled or still in barrel, as noted in the text, and most were destined for May bottling.) The 2008 harvest here did not commence until the beginning of October. "You had mature sugars," says Clair echoing a frequent refrain, "but not mature skins or pips." Quantities were almost shockingly small this year, the Gevrey Crus ranging between 20-25 hectoliters per hectare, and there is certainly no lack of structure in what for now present themselves as a somewhat severely concentration collection. Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802

(this and the following wines had been recently racked and sulfited) Good deep red. Pure aromas of raspberry and minerals. Juicy, sweet and intense, with a sappy quality to the flavors of medicinal raspberry, blackberry and chocolate. Ripe and stuffed with material. Perhaps most impressive today on the long, chocolatey finish, which features good mineral lift and a firm tannic spine. This won't even go into cuve until April, notes winemaker Philippe Brun.

Rich and lip smacking and quite sweet. Though with chewiness, and vitality, on the finish. Just a little bit too bitter on the end for full-frontal enjoyment. (JR)