2006 Domaine Cecile Tremblay Vosne-Romanée Vieilles Vignes

To Tremblay's previous holdings in Aux Commune and Aux Jacheres (both immediately below the village itself), her 2006 Vosne Romanee Vieilles Vignes has added fruit from a parcel in Les Rouges du Dessus, high above Echezeaux and Beaumonts, for a total of nine barrels (two new, and reflecting Tremblay's preference for Jupilles oak). A complex and alluring amalgam of oriental spices allied to sweetly ripe plum and cassis scent the nose, ushering in an inner-mouth performance of almost smarting intensity of pepper, resin, citrus oil, and brown spices, supported by palpable sense of sheer extract. An abundance of fine tannins are well-woven into this dense fabric that may set some palates to itching, but there is an abundance of glycerin and sheer primary juiciness all the way through the long finish. This is not Pinot for the faint of heart, and I would be inclined to give it 2-3 years or rest before employing it for the balance of the teens. More than half of this was subject to vendange entier. "Given the amount and character of tannin in 2006," reports Cecile Tremblay, "a lot of changes had to be made" in handling to guarantee extraction of pure fruit and the encouragement of depth and textural polish, notably the gentleness of both pressing and maceration. (I had to offer Tremblay – and now do my readers – an apology for stating in my detailed report in issue 171 that she and Pascal Roblet were married. That was never the case – although I am not the only person to have made this mistake – and in any event the two have now gone their separate wine ways. Tremblay crushed her most recent vintage at cellars in her home town of Vosne-Romanee.) Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800