The Camille Giroud 2006 Beaune Lelune – from a site adjacent to Clos des Mouches and Montrevenots and amounting to a mere 3 barriques – displays grapefruit, nectarine and black currant aromas slightly reminiscent of Sauvignon; offers enormous sheer refreshment and a polished texture, along with a palpable, chalky sense of density; and finishes with subtly bitter notes of citrus zest and fruit pit. It represents a good candidate for enjoyment over the next three years, but might well cellar for longer.
Readers should consult issues 160 and 170 for details on this house owned by Ann Colgin and a group of Americans. They and their winemaker David Croix are as he puts it “trying to develop our program with whites, but it’s really hard to find good material.” The 2006 whites here prove that even with a relatively late harvest, one did not have to sacrifice clarity or minerality, nor be burdened with high alcohol. Clearly, this team is exercising unusual vigilance with their handful of growers. Croix took these wines from barrel early – after passive contact on the lees and careful preservation of CO2 – and then held them in tank for several months (the condition in which I tasted all but one them) before bottling unfined and unfiltered. The aim of extended time in tank was to further preserve freshness, and to insure that the wines and their levels of sulfur would remain stable.
Various Importers. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet; fax 011- 333-80-24-29-70