91 By Robert Parker
De Vogue’s 2007 Chambolle-Musigny reveals fresh purple plum and tart-edged red currant that put me momentarily in mind more of 2008. But a warm sense of richness and combination of soy-like savor and subtle caramelization are more vintage-typical, and this finishes with irresistible exuberance and purity of fruit, if not enormous complexity, as well as with a slightly sweet-tart sense of candied currants. Hints of lily perfume as well as a sense that the tannins have simply melted away, add to the overarching sense of seductive sweetness on exhibit here. I would be inclined to enjoy this over the next 4-5 years, though it might well hold up well for much longer.
Francois Millet – always keen to pinpoint the expression of fruit he finds in each vintage – characterizes that of 2008 as “syrup-like,” and of 2007 as “candied.” I am skeptical that these metaphors can be generalized, but under no circumstances should “syrup-like” be taken as an attempt to deny the brightness or transparency displayed by so many of the best 2008s, including these. “To have been picked late” – in this instance, starting September 27 – “to have been picked cold, and to have fermented very slowly to created the largest amount of glycerol to combine with the freshness of the vintage,” opines Millet, constitutes a significant part of the 2008s’ secret, seduction, even mystery. “Late malo” – here completed in August – he adds, “was also good, so that the vintage could have a true childhood, and slowly, surely build itself. If we had had a southern wind when the weather changed, maybe we would have lost that identity of 2008. But by there being a northern wind, the evolution was continued” i.e. in a constant, cool trajectory. Not to short-change it, the 2007 vintage collection here is one of those few capable of standing direct comparison to its immediate successor – or indeed to nearly any other vintage from this address.
De Vogue’s 2007 Chambolle-Musigny reveals fresh purple plum and tart-edged red currant that put me momentarily in mind more of 2008. But a warm sense of richness and combination of soy-like savor and subtle caramelization are more vintage-typical, and this finishes with irresistible exuberance and purity of fruit, if not enormous complexity, as well as with a slightly sweet-tart sense of candied currants. Hints of lily perfume as well as a sense that the tannins have simply melted away, add to the overarching sense of seductive sweetness on exhibit here. I would be inclined to enjoy this over the next 4-5 years, though it might well hold up well for much longer.
Francois Millet – always keen to pinpoint the expression of fruit he finds in each vintage – characterizes that of 2008 as “syrup-like,” and of 2007 as “candied.” I am skeptical that these metaphors can be generalized, but under no circumstances should “syrup-like” be taken as an attempt to deny the brightness or transparency displayed by so many of the best 2008s, including these. “To have been picked late” – in this instance, starting September 27 – “to have been picked cold, and to have fermented very slowly to created the largest amount of glycerol to combine with the freshness of the vintage,” opines Millet, constitutes a significant part of the 2008s’ secret, seduction, even mystery. “Late malo” – here completed in August – he adds, “was also good, so that the vintage could have a true childhood, and slowly, surely build itself. If we had had a southern wind when the weather changed, maybe we would have lost that identity of 2008. But by there being a northern wind, the evolution was continued” i.e. in a constant, cool trajectory. Not to short-change it, the 2007 vintage collection here is one of those few capable of standing direct comparison to its immediate successor – or indeed to nearly any other vintage from this address.
