Pethel’s 2007 Puligny-Montrachet Sous Les Puits – from a bit lower down the same slope as his village-level Puligny – shares with its little sibling a bright citricity and luscious, peachy fruit. Here a creamy texture backed by palpable suggestions of underlying density is allied to an animated interchange of fruit and mineral elements, including overt stoniness. Here too, darker nutty tones come to the fore with air, and lend piquancy to the finish. While there is long-term Dublere track record, I suspect this will be worth following for 7-10 years and will in time probably demonstrate its superiority to the village wine.
North Carolinian Blair Pethel – whose adventures in Burgundy I briefly summarized in issue 180 – did not start harvesting whites until well into the second week of September (granted, he has modest acreage) and finished by picking his Corton Charlemagne on September 17, though it seemed to surprise him to hear me call that “late.” All of his whites were bottled in March, 2009. Among the illustrations of Pethel’s quality-consciousness – besides what's obvious in the glass! – is his selection of two different tonneliers each year to supply his barrels (around one third new annually), as he gradually narrows the field and decides with whom to work on a regular basis in future. “I haven’t repeated yet,” he says, revealing his determined spirit of controlled experimentation, “but after this year 2009, I’m going to make a choice.” For a note on Pethel’s extraordinary 2007 Chablis Preuses, readers are urged to consult my report on Chablis elsewhere in this issue.
A Becky Wasserman Selection (various importers), Le Serbet; fax 011- 333-80-24-29-70; also imported by Pas Mal Selections, New York, NY; tel. (201) 567 2028 and Schneider’s of Capital Hill, Washington, DC tel. (202) 543 9300