The Croix 2008 Beaune Greves has a roasted, rare meat dimension and sense of underlying richness that were missing in its siblings, here allied to fresh blackberry and cherry accented by cherry pit, black pepper, black tea, Latakia tobacco, fennel, and salt. The smoky and saline dimensions to the wine’s tart black fruit- and sirloin juice-enriched finish make for invigorating, lip-smacking satisfaction. To be sure, this is prominently tannic – even if relatively fine-grained – and I would not count on that tannin melting away, but it’s part and parcel of an already impressive picture, and I suspect this will continue to fascinate and reward for at least a dozen years. Croix himself thinks it is the most complete and complex today of the present collection. Young David Croix has just added acreage in Aloxe (including Corton) to his recently-formed domaine (for more, consult my report in issue 186). He certainly has a spacious-enough – not to mention handsome – facility to accommodate much more, but seems intent on remaining in the modest 15-20 acre range, while also keeping very busy in his capacity as cellarmaster at Maison Camille Giroud (for more, consult my reports under that heading). Croix did not begin harvesting 2008s (his first crop grown entirely organically, incidentally) until September 29, continuing for ten days, and taking it on the chin as far as yields were concerned. “Nature dictated a small crop,” he relates, but the absence of warmth or sunshine prompted him to cut it back further. “I finished green-harvesting on a Friday;” he continues, “and on Saturday hail hit” many of his vines in Beaune and Savigny. ‘Then there was the concentration of berries by wind, plus the triage of unhealthy grapes.” With one exception, the 2008s had been bottled for a month when I tasted them in April. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet (various importers); fax 011-333-80-24-29-70