Pungent notes of fresh ginger, Szechuan pepper, peat, mint, black tea, and black pepper accent ripe black raspberry on the nose and palate of l’Arlot’s 2007 Vosne Arlot Romanee Les Suchots. This practically sizzles on the back end, an impression mutually reinforcing of abundant, faintly-numbing tannins. There is considerable complexity and sheer persistence here, to be sure, but a certain opacity and prickliness of personality that suggest perhaps a few years of bottle age with bring improvement. I would still not plan on holding this for more than half a dozen years, other than of course pending receiving different signals along the way than those it is now emitting.
Olivier Leriche reports having harvested more robust material in 2008 than in 2007, but notes that a rigorous triage for rot was needed in each instance, and that he took the precaution of significantly reducing in both vintages his usual percentage of stems and whole clusters. Harvest in 2008 was relatively rapid, and concluded October 9, but Leriche notes that its progression was determined by the extent of botrytis incursions rather than by the parcels’ ripeness. The botrytis in 2008 was more insidious, he maintained – echoing comments of several other growers – and the sorting unusually arduous, in that it frequently affected individual berries within the clusters, while triage in 2007 more often consisted of either accepting or rejecting an entire, relatively uniformly healthy or botrytis-afflicted bunch. Surprisingly, several l’Arlot 2008s – Clos du Chapeau, Clos de l’Arlot, les Suchots – finished malo already their first winter; whereas others were protracted and erratic. I tasted the final assemblages just before they were sulfured and bottled, which Leriche – in common with quite a few Burgundy vintners – argues is the best time to taste red Burgundies until after they have had several years in bottle.
Numerous agents and U.S. importers including: Chambers & Chambers, San Francisco, CA; tel. (415) 642-5500, Classic Wine Imports, Norwood, MA, tel. (781) 352-1100, and a Daniel Johnnes Selection, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
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