Pataille’s 2005 Marsannay L‘Ancestral – from diverse terroirs, cropped at two or three clusters per old vine from tiny-berried pinot fin genetic material, and representing the culmination of Pataille’s ongoing efforts to recapture ancient methods – is certainly the most expensive wine to issue from Marsannay (with allowances for inflation) since the Dukes of Burgundy themselves pressed their last bunch. But there were doubtless reasons other than proximity to Burgundy’s capital city why the wines of what are today its suburbs commanded relatively high prices in ancient times, and (like Mortet’s Bourgogne from Daix) this Marsannay suggests that those might just have been reasons of taste. Rich aromas and flavors of cherry, black raspberry, chocolate, and spices wreathed in herbs and smoke inform this dense Pinot with velvety surface texture but plenty of firm underlying tannin for what Pataille hopes and anticipates will be significant aging. It harbors fascinating finishing herbal, mineral and carnal dimensions in an as yet tightly packed bundle. A complete ( five year!) vertical yielded ‘03 and ‘02 renditions of impressively expressive complexity. Young Sylvain Pataille’s tiny cellar is adjacent to the touristic Medieval pressoir of the Dukes of Burgundy in Chenove, which is to say beneath a busy street in suburban Dijon. He is inquisitively, experimentally and with manifest sensitivity and skill vinifying a multitude of lots (including a remarkable collection of whites) from largely old vines in Marsannay, linked by a common theme of rediscovering techniques that were already being lost when his grandfather founded the family domaine. Also recommended: 2005 Bourgogne ($20.00; 84), 2005 Marsannay La Charme aus Pretres ($30.00; 86). A Becky Wassserman Selection (various importers), Le Serbet, Beaune; fax 011-33-3-80-24-29-70

Pataille’s 2005 Marsannay L‘Ancestral – from diverse terroirs, cropped at two or three clusters per old vine from tiny-berried pinot fin genetic material, and representing the culmination of Pataille’s ongoing efforts to recapture ancient methods – is certainly the most expensive wine to issue from Marsannay (with allowances for inflation) since the Dukes of Burgundy themselves pressed their last bunch. But there were doubtless reasons other than proximity to Burgundy’s capital city why the wines of what are today its suburbs commanded relatively high prices in ancient times, and (like Mortet’s Bourgogne from Daix) this Marsannay suggests that those might just have been reasons of taste. Rich aromas and flavors of cherry, black raspberry, chocolate, and spices wreathed in herbs and smoke inform this dense Pinot with velvety surface texture but plenty of firm underlying tannin for what Pataille hopes and anticipates will be significant aging. It harbors fascinating finishing herbal, mineral and carnal dimensions in an as yet tightly packed bundle. A complete ( five year!) vertical yielded ‘03 and ‘02 renditions of impressively expressive complexity.Young Sylvain Pataille’s tiny cellar is adjacent to the touristic Medieval pressoir of the Dukes of Burgundy in Chenove, which is to say beneath a busy street in suburban Dijon. He is inquisitively, experimentally and with manifest sensitivity and skill vinifying a multitude of lots (including a remarkable collection of whites) from largely old vines in Marsannay, linked by a common theme of rediscovering techniques that were already being lost when his grandfather founded the family domaine.Also recommended: 2005 Bourgogne ($20.00; 84), 2005 Marsannay La Charme aus Pretres ($30.00; 86).A Becky Wassserman Selection (various importers), Le Serbet, Beaune; fax 011-33-3-80-24-29-70