There is also a mild touch of reduction but a bit of earth and red berry fruit can be discerned under the funk. The flavors however are fresh, intense, detailed and relatively refined as the tannins avoid any sense of rusticity and the finish is not only energetic but explosive and impressively persistent. Lovely. Tasted: Jan 01, 2009 Score: 89-91 Drink: 2013+ Issue 33 Allen Meadows; Burghound

Christophe Roumier describes the 2007 vintage as "one where I was agreeably surprised by the maturity we achieved. Undoubtedly part of it was because unlike a normal vintage where it's about 100 days, we had approximately 115 days pass between the date of the flowering and the date of the harvest. However, it was necessary to pick very slowly as we had various levels of rot pressure in the vineyards from June all the way to the middle of August and that took its toll in certain sectors. By contrast, sugars were actually quite good at between 12 and 12.5%, which is all the more surprising given how cool and damp much of the summer was. The other side of that coin though is that we had almost no chaptalization. We did plenty of sorting and ultimately threw out quite a bit of under ripe berries, which means that 2007 will be a very small crop for us. I elected to go with a normal vinification and I definitely used more whole bunches than in 2006 where I used very little, indeed almost none. In 2007, the percentage depended on the vineyard but it was up to 50% for the grands crus. There was a lot of malic acid, which has played a central role in shaping the wines. And because there was so much of it, the malos were slow and long and indeed some wines have still not finished 100% of it though at this point not much remains. What was interesting though was to watch how the wines transformed from being a bit on the skinny and edgy side to full, rich and ripe as the malos progressed." And fans of the domaine will be impressed by what Roumier told me next; I was in any event when he observed, "as to the wines themselves, they are pure expressions of the terroir, exquisitely balanced and harmonious. The more I look at these wines, the more I wonder whether they are the best that I have ever made? They remind me a great deal of my 1999s, which is another vintage that I love. We'll see in time as there is no rush to judge them but I believe that the '07s could potentially be wonderful wines." I pointed out that he had made the same observation about his fantastic 2005s and he modestly noted that "sometimes, even winemakers have differing views of what is really the correct definition of the best. To say that the '05s are different from the '07s says everything and nothing. But I can say that I like both vintages a great deal but for very different reasons. The '05s are wines of drama, size, weight, power, concentration and they will live for decades. By contrast the '07s are wines of elegance, finesse, purity, transparency, terroir expression and superb detail. Picking the best is your job but I can tell you that I am very happy with both vintages." While it's very early, I don't see quite the same seeds of greatness in the Roumier '07s that I saw at the same stage in his '05s. However, his '07s are in fact superb wines and may very well be the second best vintage for this storied domaine since 2000. As to the bottled '06s, they are certainly very good but clearly are not in the same league as the brilliant '05s or the exceptional '07s.