The Raphet 2006 Clos de la Roche – as occasionally happens with their rendition of this site – displays a striking personality. With completely unexpectedly, savage intensity, it smells of pungent wood smoke with herbal distillate, kirsch, framboise, as well as their fresh fruit and herb counterparts. Crushed stone, tart fruit skin, cyanic fruit pits, and medicinal iodine and bitter herbs accent fresh, ripe berries on the palate, and this finishes with impressive raw intensity of tart fruit, herbs and minerals, though interestingly – for now – without any notable carnal dimension. It should be most interesting to follow this impressive though rather sparely-textured wine over the next 8-10 years. The Raphet wines have always been marked by a wide divergence of quality and a reflection of conditions very much as nature presented them. The results in 2006 are relatively lightweight, with for the most part only bottlings from the characteristically top sites and vines of the domaine really asserting strong personalities (and a presumably hail-tainted and rather 1983-like village Gevrey being less than recommendable). Gerard Raphet says he picked consciously on the early side, and then quickly, boosting the alcohol levels on most wines slightly from their potentials in the low 12s. (For further information about Raphet and his sites, readers are urged to consult my report in issue 171.) Peter Vezan Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011 33 1 42 55 42 93