Camille Giroud’s 2006 Chassagne-Montrachet Vergers offers a heady nose of gardenia, talcum, and lemon candy. Surprisingly delicate in the mouth for all of the signals of ripeness that the nose gives out, this pits a sense of chalk and stone against lightly caramelized peach and candied lemon. A polished, silken, soothingly lees-enriched texture adds to the allure, and the wine finishes with creamy, dreamy length. While no doubt capable of cellaring for six or more years (and Croix is diligently pursuing the aim of age-worthiness) this will be hard to resist in its youth. Readers should consult issues 160 and 170 for details on this house owned by Ann Colgin and a group of Americans. They and their winemaker David Croix are as he puts it “trying to develop our program with whites, but it’s really hard to find good material.” The 2006 whites here prove that even with a relatively late harvest, one did not have to sacrifice clarity or minerality, nor be burdened with high alcohol. Clearly, this team is exercising unusual vigilance with their handful of growers. Croix took these wines from barrel early – after passive contact on the lees and careful preservation of CO2 – and then held them in tank for several months (the condition in which I tasted all but one them) before bottling unfined and unfiltered. The aim of extended time in tank was to further preserve freshness, and to insure that the wines and their levels of sulfur would remain stable. Various Importers. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet; fax 011- 333-80-24-29-70