2008 Clos Vougeot

From purchased must, the Camille Giroud 2008 Clos Vougeot unites roasted red meats, Szechuan pepper, burley tobacco, and cooked blackberry in a corpulent, muscular style of red Burgundy, with fine skeletal posture but also imposing meat on its bones. This finishes with grip and both animal spirits and animal flavors; there is a lot of tannin but it fits the wine’s personality; and I suspect this will be capable of aging nicely for 15 or more years. David Croix’s 2008 Camille Giroud collection was picked late; slow to evolve; and for the most part had not been bottled when I tasted in April. Although I missed out on a couple of wines in this year’s collection, the line-up from Camille Giroud was also smaller than in previous years. (I have not tasted the 2007s here. For details about the recent revival of Camille Giroud and about David Croix’s approach, readers are referred to reports in issues 160 and 170 respectively; and for reports on Croix’s own domaine, see under Domaine des Croix.) A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet (various importers); fax 011-333-80-24-29-70