The Clair 2008 Marsannay Vaudenelles offers fresh cherry and black raspberry with strongly marked by fruit pit bitterness and with a surprising degree of textural tenderness for its vintage. Subtle spice and resin from barrel (only 15% is new, and elevage for the Clair Marsannays is split between barriques and small foudres) strike me as entirely appropriate. While there is not a lot of complexity here, considerable enjoyment over the next 4-5 years should be assured.
Bruno Clair and Philippe Brun report that they had to warm their cellar to encourage the primary fermentations of their 2008s, and their 2009s were already into malo before the 2008s finished. In consequence, even their Marsannays from the latter vintage had only been assembled the day I visited them in February. (Other wines were recently assembled or still in barrel, as noted in the text, and most were destined for May bottling.) The 2008 harvest here did not commence until the beginning of October. "You had mature sugars," says Clair echoing a frequent refrain, "but not mature skins or pips." Quantities were almost shockingly small this year, the Gevrey Crus ranging between 20-25 hectoliters per hectare, and there is certainly no lack of structure in what for now present themselves as a somewhat severely concentration collection.
Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802
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