From a manifestly excellent if little-known site high up against the Santenay La Comme (and the only one of his Chassagnes from purchased fruit) Colin’s 2007 Chassagne-Montrachet Baudines is practically an apotheosis of rocks and chalk, allied to refreshing and subtly bitter yellow cherry (and its pits); grapefruit (with its zest); and diverse pit fruit and high-toned herbal distillates. This wine's overt, adamant mineral expression, when combined with its pungent, bitter elements and almost sharp esters, makes for a formidably concentrated, energizing, if slightly dissonant finish. Depending on how this wine sorts its self out – I suspect I caught it on a slightly inharmonious day – there is almost certainly potential for greatness and 6 or more years’ aging here, and it will be well worth revisiting. Pierre-Yves Colin – who openly pledges allegiance to Riesling virtues – does more than just talk the talk of achieving ripe fruit at low levels of potential alcohol. Finished alcohols in his collection – after half a percent or so of chaptalization – range from a (for modern times almost astonishing) 11.75% up to 12.75%. “I really can’t say,” he confesses, “why so many growers were getting fruit of 12.5% or more potential alcohol already at the end of August,” ten days before Colin even began picking, but he can say he doubts their fruit tasted ripe then! Half of the acreage he accesses is in Saint-Aubin – naturally conducive to later ripening – and was not picked until past mid-September this year. Colin believes in minimal settling, by gravity, and retaining lots of lees, but not in actively working them; favors rapid pressing, and 350- (one-third new) over 225-liter barrels; and welcomes late and protracted malo-lactic conversions – although this vintage's malos were completed by the following June. He bottled his Saint-Aubin crus at just over a year; his other premier crus this past March; and the grands crus (of which I was unfortunately unable to taste the Chevalier-Montrachet) in May, sealing them all with wax, in the belief that this will provide extra protection against harmful oxygen ingress.For myriad further details on this relatively new estate and its rapidly-growing family of wines – nearly half of which are from contract fruit – readers are urged to consult my report in issue 180, where – having up until then not seen a label – I inadvertently left-off the “-Morey” from the winery nameA Daniel Johnnes Selection imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY, tel. (516) 677 9300;Atherton Wine Imports, Menlo Park, CA, tel. (650) 328-6639 and Bertin Henri Selections, 10900 N.W. 21st Street, Unit 180, Doral, Florida 33172 tel: (305) 392-6995

Colin’s 2006 Chassagne-Montrachet Baudines – from middle aged vines high up against the border with Santenay – displays admirable clarity and refinement, verve and refreshment. White pepper, honey, lemon cream, iris, and chalk dust are the leading elements in this well-concentrated, elegant cru, one probably worthy of at least 4-6 years cellaring. In 2005, Marc Colin presided over a division of his estate among his four children, and Pierre-Yves Colin – who had worked at his father’s estate since 1995 and had been making a few barrels of his own from purchased grapes since 2001 – elected to strike out on his own, bottling in his inaugural vintage of 2006 a considerable range of wines in small lots – not all of which I tasted – both from his inheritance in Saint-Aubin and Chassagne and from (presently 30%) contract fruit (largely picked by picked by his own team) in Meursault and Puligny. (He employs the same label for both groups of wines). Colin is one of Burgundy’s unabashed admirers of Riesling, and while he believes in a long elevage for his wines, he does not stir their lees (yet his wines are flatteringly creamy in texture) and professes unconcern as to whether his wines complete malolactic fermentation. (Although I taste no indication that any of these 2006s failed to complete their malo, there is no question most are noticeably bright.) Colin overwhelmingly favors 350-liter barrels over standard (228- or 225-liter) barriques for the freshness and clarity he believes they confer, and even his less prestigious appellations receive 30-50% new wood. Like many in Chassagne, he felt comfortable delaying the commencement of his 2006 harvest until September 21, yet most of the resultant wines hover on either side of 13% alcohol.A Daniel Johnnes Selection imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY, tel. (516) 677 9300; also imported by Atherton Wine Imports, Menlo Park, CA, tel. (650) 328-6639

Minty/pine-laced aromas of minerals and pears are found in the nose of the 2003 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Baudines (white). Light to medium-bodied, pretty, and with a broad attack and mid-palate, this wine displays appealing white fruit and sap flavors before tapering off. It should be drunk over the next 3-4 years. One final note: Pierre-Yves Colin (and others) have also found the mint/pine resin characteristics in this small firm’s wines. While these traits are not unappealing, he is baffled as to where they can come from since he acquires fruit from numerous sources and uses barrels that others employ without the same results.Importer: Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 757-8185