2006 Camille Giroud, Corton Grand Cru, Le Clos du Roi

(near 14% natural alcohol) Good full red. Superripe aromas of candied cherry, leather and meat; complex and deep on the nose. Big, sappy and rich, with a medicinal restraint to its dark fruit flavors. This has Cote de Nuits-like weight and structure, not to mention deeper, darker flavors. Finishes with substantial but ripe tannins.

A 2006 Corton Clos du Roi is – at 14% – the highest alcohol wine in this year's Camille Giroud collection, and there is a bit of heat that also amplifies some roughness. That said, I last tasted this from tank, and it might also pick up refinement over a few years in bottle. Stewed black cherry and its pits, along with bitter-sweet herbal concentrate, iodine, and chalk familiar from other wines in this collection make for a palate-staining if more formidable than loveable impression. David Croix racked his 2006s into tank earlier than normal in an attempt to preserve the maximum of fruit. (For details about the recent revival of Camille Giroud and about David Croix's approach, readers are referred to reports in issues 160 and 170 respectively. A Gevrey-Chambertin En Champs was too reduced from tank when I last tasted it to adequately access, but it definitely displayed potential and reflected its old vines of a tiny-berried selection; while a Clos Vougeot from purchased fruit was stuck in protracted malo.) A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet (various importers); fax 011-333-80-24-29-70