Good full red. Darker fruits on the nose, complicated by minerals, violet and sweet oak. Rich and silky but at the same time minerally and firm; boasts impressive volume and texture but comes across as almost weightless. Finishes tight and youthfully closed, with superb mineral energy and toothcoating tannins. Lovely already but this should really be held for five or six years.

The 2006 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts from Sylvain Cathiard really blossomed in the glass, unfurling to reveal notes of plums, dark chocolate, rich soil, burning embers and some savory and hard-to-define bass notes, its new oak nicely digested at age 12. On the palate, the wine starts out a little foursquare but opens up to become quite expansive, more taut and controlled than the 2005 En Orveaux tasted the following day, with fine-grained but not yet melted tannins, a deep core of fruit and a long finish. An excellent Malconsorts with a full decade ahead of it.

Cathiard's 2006 Vosne-Romanee Les Malconsorts allies purple plum with decadent, heady, faded lily-like floral perfume and dark spices, including clove, cinnamon, and star anise. This has greater density and tanninity than other Cathiard 2006s I tasted, but the texture is nonetheless refined. There is an intriguing fresh, clean meatiness here, akin to freshly-butchered, meadow-fed lamb, and a Latakia-like smokiness threads its way through the long braiding of floral, mineral, fruit, and carnal that is this Pinot's fascinating finish. Here is the mystery of Vosne personified. I can see no reason to overlook this in the next few years, but would definitely plan on following it for at least as decade. My report in issue 171 was in error – as both Cathiard and de Montille let me know – in reporting that Cathiard's production of wine from this cru would drop dramatically in consequence of his having agreed to compensation for relinquishing his lease on a share of its acreage. In fact, the portion of Malconsorts that Cathiard farmed under that former agreement never informed his domaine bottling, whose production level will thus be uninfluenced by its absence. Sylvain Cathiard said sorting out rot was not a major challenge for him in 2006 (but in 2007, yes) and that at most 10% of fruit was rejected. Unfortunately, he did not offer me the opportunity to taste half of his wines and I was unable to catch up with them subsequently. A Becky Wassserman Selection (various importers), Le Serbet, Beaune; fax 011-33-3-80-24-29-70