There are only around 17 barrels of the 2012 Chambolle-Musigny Village this year. It has a generous bouquet with ripe strawberry and redcurrant with nicely integrated new oak (25%). There are lovely floral notes emerging with time, even a little brine with continued aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp tannins. There are plenty of fresh, dark berry fruits here with a taut, linear finish suggesting that it will need a year in bottle to flesh out. This will be delicious. Seeking a master-class in the premier crus of Chambolle-Musigny? Look no further than here, where Ghislaine Barthod crafts a small flotilla of wines from within the ambit of her maison that she shares with Louis Boillot (see separate entry.) I have been closely following Ghislaine’s wines for over a decade: reliable, dependable and predisposed to reflecting the vagaries of the growing season. These are not polished wines, not even wines craving to score points. They are wines that I want to buy and drink with friends. The picking commenced on 22 September after the travails of the growing season that I will not regurgitate here. Of course, the barrels were at different stages of evolution when we tasted through the crus, which Ghislaine explained was partly due to temperature variations within the cellar (for example, the section underneath the house being slightly warmer than the part underneath the garden.) What I appreciated about these wines is that they articulated the vagaries of each climat, and tasting through these wines was akin to taking a sensory tour of the appellation. So while Les Cras was stony and severe, the Beaux-Bruns is rounded and affable, the Gruenchers more standoffish and distant. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990