2006 Puligny Montrachet Champ Canet
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Tasting notes
The Latour-Giraud 2006 Puligny-Montrachet Champ Canet allies very esterous ripe and distilled orchard fruits with briny mineral-bath character, and faintly bitter iodine-like, cyanic notes that emerge as a vintage theme at this address. Time needs to knit this more firmly and perhaps reveal nuance. It is unlikely that a slight hint of alcoholic warmth will dissipate (small wonder Latour was a pains to harvest this before the ban de vendange!), but sheer density of raw materials and an ample leavening of acidity should help make this worth following for 5-7 years. Jean-Pierre Latour was one of those growers who got a jump on the 2006 ban de vendange in an effort to preserve freshness and clarity of fruit (although on that score, he professes to prefer his 2005s). The 2006 collection was slow to ferment and to undergo malo-lactic transformation; and from tank immediately before bottling, many wines struck me as somewhat disjointed and/or awkwardly marked by milk and new wood. Various importers, including Bayfield Importing, Long Island, NY (718)482 0200; Classic Wine Imports, Norwood, MA, tel. (781) 352 1100; and Stacole Fine Wines, Boca Raton, FL; tel. (561) 998 0029
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Bright yellow. Very ripe aromas of apricot, clove and nutty oak. A sweet, generous, concentrated fruit bomb, but with a sound mineral underpinning that gives firmness to the long finish. This showed an increasing rocky quality and a slight youthful aggressiveness as it opened in the glass. Latour noted that he harvested these vines four days before the ban in 2006. Though quite vibrant, it's still a warmer and more tender style than the Perrieres.
Lively and floral. Very, very astringent. Wait! (JR)
Aromas of nutty oak and peach. Glyceral and fat, with a sexy sweetness in the middle and an almost exotic fruit impression. Highly concentrated but less complex than the Genevrieres. Finishes pure and dry. No more batonnage needed here, notes Latour.