2006 Maison Joseph Drouhin Vosne-Romanée Les Petits-Monts 1er Cru

From Veronique Drouhin-Boss's personal acreage (and slightly differently labeled than the other Drouhin wines to reflect this), the 2006 Vosne-Romanee Les Petits Monts surprises with its tanninity and faintly vegetal notes, perhaps legacies of the high percentage of stems that were included in the fermentation, although this did not have a similar effect on other occasions in this collection. The enhancement of diverse oriental spices and floral perfume are no doubt a more positive byproduct of vendange entier. Tart fruit skin and fresh ginger; chalk and salt, convey an exuberantly bright and invigorating length that reveals the sheer sap and cut underlying this unevolved cru bottling. But will this wine of formidable density and energy and clean meatiness manage to deal more harmoniously with its tannin (or would it have been less noticeable on another occasion)? I'd want to revisit this before hazarding any prognosis as to long-term evolution. "I was skeptical when the harvest came," says Philippe Drouhin about 2006, "because the weather had been so hectic; we had to sort the grapes; and it was not as nice as '05. But the more I tasted the '06s in the course of the year, the more I liked them." Winemaker Jerome Faure-Brac says he was hyper-cautious about avoiding the extraction of bitterness or under-ripeness, and employed vendange entier (whole clusters with stems) on a significant share of the grands (and top premiers) crus, but only in conjunction with rigorous table-sorting. Most came in at 13-13.5% potential alcohol. The wines were bottled about as early as they ever have been at Drouhin, to preserve and avoid drying out the fruit. (Just as elsewhere in this report, I have frequently indicated in my tasting note whether the source of grapes is the family's domaine or contract fruit, but have not attempted to reflect this as part of the descriptions used to identify the wines.) Importer: Dreyfus-Ashby & Co., New York, NY; tel. (212) 818-0770

Deep crimson. Pale rim. Racy. Sweet. A little brutal. (JR)