The 2010 Chassagne-Montrachet Grandes Ruchottes flows across the palate with gorgeous texture. It reveals all the richness of Chassagne with none of the heaviness. Light floral notes meld into yellow stone fruits, mint and honeysuckle all come alive in this textured, voluptuous wine. Anticipated maturity: 2014+. Proprietor Mounir Saouma thinks 2010 is a great vintage and therefore he wanted to push the boundaries as far as possible by slowing down the maturation of the wines. He kept temperatures very low in the cellar to encourage slow, long malolactic fermentations and long elevage in barrel. Among the unusual practices Saouma adopted with the 2010s is stirring the lees a full year after the harvest. At the time of my visit, in July 2012, none of the 2010 whites had been bottled, the only estate in Burgundy I know of that had still not bottled their 2010s. The wines Le Moine 2010s are big, rich and powerful. In many cases, the 2010s appear to have structures that are in the realm of reds. A number of the wines also show slight elements of botrytis that will become more pronounced over time. In addition to these wines, I also tasted the 2010 Chassagne-Montrachet Morgeot, which was too closed to properly evaluate. Importer: Vintus, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (919) 769-3000

The 2009 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Grandes Ruchottes presents the more mineral side of Chassagne. It is a beautifully vibrant wine endowed with layers of finely sculpted fruit and a wiry, taut finish. I especially like the steeliness here. Anticipated maturity: 2014+. This is another stunning set of wines from proprietors Mounir Saouma and Rotem Brakim. Saouma and Brakim practice some of the most risk-taking winemaking in Burgundy, especially with regards to elevage. The wines see extended aging on the lees with minimal sulfur. I tasted the 2009s in late June 2011. At the time the wines had never been racked. Readers should note that I accidentally omitted a number of wines from my reviews of the estate’s 2009 reds, in particular the wines from Vosne-Romanee. Those notes are now posted on the site. My tasting concluded with two wines served blind. These turned out to be two 2004 Meursaults. The first wine was made with a pneumatic press and aged with 4 liters of lees per barrel, the second wine was made with a mechanical press and went into barrel with 8 liters of lees. Both wines were aged 18 months and bottled by hand. As it turns out, wine #2 was considerably fresher and much more nuanced than wine #1. Importer: Vintus, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (919) 769-3000

From barrel (of which there are two), Saouma's 2007 Chassagne-Montrachet Grandes Ruchottes smells of ripe peach, bright lemon, and chalk dust. Suggestions of toasted grains and nuts as well as caramel emerge on the palate, which exhibits surprising creaminess considering the citric vivacity that prevails here all the way through a long, bright, saline, chalky finish. I suspect this will be worth following for 6-8 years. Musky, smoky, flor-like notes rendered the Le Moine Chassagne Morgeot intriguing but what followed from the barrel was as yet insufficiently advanced to be assessed when I was last able to taste it. For more information on the unorthodox and exceptional negociant firm of Rotem Brakin and Mounir Saouma, I refer readers to my report in issue 171. The pair are involved in decisions about the wines they purchase even before the barrels change hands; elevage typically approaches two years; and there are generally only one or two barrels (50 or 100 eventual cases) of each wine, for which reason I have typically noted the relevant volume, and the suggested prices – high in comparison with most sources, but arguably not in view of quality or rarity – must be taken with an especially large grain of tartrate. Brakin and Saouma indubitably believe in the importance of patience and of taking time, in which respect they see their work partly as an attempt to turn back the clock to the practices of an earlier era. Still, this generalization applies only partly to their approach in 2007, plus it is impossible to overlook what Saouma calls "the Bastille Day event of modern Burgundian viticulture," namely vintage 2003. "I'm glad we had 2007 in 2007 and not in 1997." he says. "Because 2003 happened, we were ready mentally to adapt ourselves. I think that it was necessary to pick the 2007 reds beginning around the 25th of August, and the whites around the 3rd through the 10th. of September. And it was important to adapt" to conditions. But Saouma did everything possible to conserve grape solids and to insure that malo-lactic conversions were late and protracted, so as to lengthen total elevage and thereby fill-out and convey both richness and structure to the wines. Most malos were completed in the summer of 2008 – with bottling begun in Spring, 2009 – but one barrel of the Le Moine 2007 Montrachet was still in malo at that point! Imported by Vintus, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (919) 769-3000