From a low-lying, gravelly section of the site (immediately adjacent to the Santenots du Milieu) that constitutes his single largest parcel, Rossignol's 2006 Volnay Santenots is dominated by leathery and otherwise animal scents and flavors. Strongly saline, alkaline, and chalky mineral notes emerge on the palate, too, amplifying slightly rustic roughness of tannin, although a welcome abundance of black fruits encamps there, too. Formidably concentrated to be sure, this is not a lot of fun to drink now, and a hint of worrisome hint of dryness appears in the finish. (Why Rossignol chose to present it subsequent to so many clearly superior Volnays Rossignol is a mystery to me. Not surprisingly, he felt it essential to de-stem all of the fruit for this.) Obviously one would love to give this the benefit of the doubt and revisit in a couple of years time, but barring that I would caution against planning on extended cellaring. "Excellent ripeness came late, but then very quickly," reports Nicolas Rossignol, who began harvested his 2006s already in mid September. "Volnay tends to be precocious, anyway," he adds, "and you have to consider the intensive way in which I've been working the vines lately, with very low yields and intensive canopy management. I wanted to preserve freshness and equilibrium." Rossignol reported that his intention had been to bottle his 2006s correspondingly early to preserve their fruit and refinement, but the mid-winter of 2007-2008 was so bitterly cold that they seized-up, and in the end he permitted them what, for him, is a normal 18 months' elevage. Deeming his fruit - which largely weighed in between 12 and just over 13% potential alcohol - to be healthy, he employed whole clusters and stems selectively, depending on how he thought the technique fit the particular appellation. Once again, I was unable to taste more than half of the roughly two dozen Rossignol's wines - traversing five communes - and he declined to show me this year's Fremiets or Taillepieds on the grounds of their respective three- and two-barrel total production. (That said, Rossignol very generously introduced me by means of a sample to the wines of his neighbor Jean-Marc Boulet - see under that name for my notes.) For further details on Rossignol and his approach to Pinot, see my report in issue 171. Importers: Martine's Wines. Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-0400; also a Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet (various importers); fax 011-333-80-24-29-70

This red has a hard edge now, but also seems a little overripe, with cooked plum and fruit jam notes. Mineral flavors lurk in the background. Stays crisp in the end. Best from 2010 through 2018. 500 cases made. -BS