The 2009 Beaune Les Cent Vignes caresses the palate with layers of deep, dark fruit. This fleshy, intense Burgundy shows just how great the vintage was in the Cote de Beaune. Suggestions of mint and flowers add lift on the finish. In 2009 the Cent Vignes is terrific. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2024. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet, various American importers, including: Grand Cru Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 974-2500; Veritas Imports, Beverly Hills, CA; tel. (310) 205-3803; Toepfer Imports LLC, CO; tel. (303) 818-7640

The Camille Giroud 2006 Beaune Cent-Vignes – in tank when I tasted it – displayed a much healthier color than its Les Cras counterpart and fresh, ripe, but tart cherry and high-toned almond extract such as one expects from its site. Suggestions of mint and humus hover in the background; and beneath a refreshing, berry-bright palate runs a stony undercurrent with a hint of cherry pit bitterness. This (for now, at least) simple but satisfying expression of its site should, I suspect, be enjoyed over then next 5-7 years. David Croix’s 2008 Camille Giroud collection was picked late; slow to evolve; and for the most part had not been bottled when I tasted in April. Although I missed out on a couple of wines in this year’s collection, the line-up from Camille Giroud was also smaller than in previous years. (I have not tasted the 2007s here. For details about the recent revival of Camille Giroud and about David Croix’s approach, readers are referred to reports in issues 160 and 170 respectively; and for reports on Croix’s own domaine, see under Domaine des Croix.) A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet (various importers); fax 011-333-80-24-29-70

The Camille Giroud 2006 Beaune Cent-Vignes smells site-typically of cherry, cherry pit, and almond extract, along with hints of mint and game. Fresh-fruited, cool, and restrained on the palate, with underlying suggestions of wet stone, it finishes with saliva-inducing savor, promising considerable immediate appeal and 4-5 years of further satisfaction. David Croix racked his 2006s into tank earlier than normal in an attempt to preserve the maximum of fruit. (For details about the recent revival of Camille Giroud and about David Croix's approach, readers are referred to reports in issues 160 and 170 respectively. A Gevrey-Chambertin En Champs was too reduced from tank when I last tasted it to adequately access, but it definitely displayed potential and reflected its old vines of a tiny-berried selection; while a Clos Vougeot from purchased fruit was stuck in protracted malo.) A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet (various importers); fax 011-333-80-24-29-70