Wild beach plum and red currant with all the tartness and piquancy of their skins, seeds, and pits lend Forey’s 2008 Morey-St.-Denis its enticing and invigorating sense of brightness, yet at the same time – in a manner reminiscent of 2005 – there is a darkness here too, in the form not only of the pit bitterness but also intimations of slow-roasted red meats and forest floor. This displays alluring textural refinement (can the use of larger barrels be a factor in the extent to which Forey nails Pinot’s sexy mouth-feel in his village wines?) and while the low-toned and stonily undergirded finish may strike some tasters as a bit austere, there is persistently lip-smacking fresh berry juiciness and lip-licking salinity as well. Plan to savor this over the next 6-8 years. Regis Forey’s 2008s enjoyed up to a month of skin contact (including cold soaks). He punched down only sparingly at the onset of fermentation – then heated the vats at the tail end in an effort to fatten the wines a bit. They finished malo in mi-summer and were racked twice – the second time in December and into tank – to help clarify them sufficiently so that he would not feel it necessary to filter. Considering how the fruit looked at harvest, Forey says he was amazed by how well his 2007s turned out. That was his view already by the time I first tasted them, coming off of early malos in late winter 2008; and in bottle they preserve the bright fruit that many 07s exhibited early on but which was in so many instances dulled or muddied meantime. As is now routine here, the village wines (and Bourgogne) were rendered almost entirely in demi-muids of varied provenance (including even a smidgeon of American oak) but always, says Forey, “very slowly-toasted, without touching the flame.” This size permits him to utilize 50% new wood, but with less surface contact per volume. It’s hard to argue with the approach, given Forey’s consistent excellence of village-level results. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990