(not yet racked) Good dark red. Wild small berries, leather and a whiff of licorice on the soil-inflected nose. Suave but imploded; tighter and much less silky today than the Rognets. But this more austere wine is at a different stage of its evolution, and needs a racking. A big wine that conveys an impression of power and firm acidity, and finishes juicy and long. I may be underrating this.

Tasted from tank, Camille Giroud’s 2008 Corton Rognets Clos du Roi smells of smoky Lapsang tea; game; animal fur; and fresh cherry. Here is another case in the current collection where decadence and brightness, tart fresh red fruit and dark animal shadings are struggling to reconcile themselves to one another. A tart chew of fruit skin, medium-grained tannin, and chalky cast are evident in the finish. This could have serious potential but bears close attention lest disharmony or tannic roughness develop. David Croix’s 2008 Camille Giroud collection was picked late; slow to evolve; and for the most part had not been bottled when I tasted in April. Although I missed out on a couple of wines in this year’s collection, the line-up from Camille Giroud was also smaller than in previous years. (I have not tasted the 2007s here. 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; and for reports on Croix’s own domaine, see under Domaine des Croix.) A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet (various importers); fax 011-333-80-24-29-70