From parcels in Les Crais and Croix de Champs just below the village, Audoins’ 2008 Gevrey-Chambertin allies tart-edged dark cherry and plum with beef marrow and mineral salts on an impressively dense yet finely-tannic, saliva-inducing, even invigoratingly persistent palate, avoiding the wrong-side-of-the-route flaccidness and rusticity that too often accrues to wine from this sector (not to mention the challenges specific to low-lying Gevrey in this vintage). Plan to enjoy this over the next 5-7 years. Cyril Audoin – who joined his mother and father (the domaine’s namesake) in 2000 – is impassioned about demonstrating what he believes is the largely unrecognized potential of Marsannay, and now that I have caught up with his wines, I can confidently state that I know of no one other than Philippe Roty who is more deliciously or profoundly succeeding in that demonstration, which means that given the modest prices asked for them, these wines represent some of Burgundy’s better values. Furthermore, this estate’s nearly 40 acres of largely old vines (or vines grafted over to selections massales) from a smorgasbord of distinctive sites makes possible striking demonstrations of terroir in action (though that very abundance also meant I was not able to taste quite the entire range in the time available to me.) “I’m lucky,” says the younger Audoin, “that my parents set a model for making very classic wines,” which for him means inter alia no fining or filtration, a single racking, and an elevage of 18 months, the last 6 normally in tank, from which I tasted the 2008s early this year. (The Audoin whites, too – on which I’ll report later – are impressive.)Importer: Martine’s Wines. Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-040