Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 30/06/2010 Mugnier’s 2007 Nuits-St.-Georges Clos de la Marechale elicits aromatic allusions to ripe black raspberry, cedar, cardamom, burley tobacco, nut oils, and game, delivering a similar sense of complexity on a relatively rich if conspicuously tannin-girded palate. The sheer sap and finishing grip in evidence here suggest that one might want to follow the wine for 4-6 years in anticipation that the tannins will refine themselves. Frederic Mugnier’s 2008s – which I last tasted shortly before their March bottling – did not experience the exceptionally late malo-lactic transformation that characterized so many wines of that vintage. Yields were especially low thanks not only to vintage-typical millerandage, but – particularly in the case of Les Amoureuses – to the vines’ slow recovery from the shock of 2007 hail. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet; fax 011-333-80-24-29-70 ()

(Mugnier assembled multiple components to make a single representative sample) Good bright red. Lovely floral lift to the aromas of blackberry, cassis, blueberry and maraschino cherry; I might have thought I had my nose in a glass of Chambolle. Broader and less detailed than the Bonnes-Mares but with more obvious sweetness to its dense, sappy red fruit flavors. If this is Chambolle on the nose, the finish shows chewy, more chunky Nuits-Saint-Georges tannins but also a lovely light touch. I asked Mugnier why his Nuits often shows a Chambolle-like character to its fruit, if not to its structure. "Each grower makes a caricature of his appellation," he responded. "It's psychological. And in my case I'm not afraid to make soft, delicate wines."

A ripe, fresh and slightly herbal nose combines notes of red and blue pinot fruit, soil tones and a touch of underbrush that can also be found on the fresh, pure and racy silky textured flavors that possess real verve on the dusty, linear and palate staining finish. Lovely if lighter than either the 2005 or 2006 versions.

Tasted blind. Bright ruby. Light nose with a certain stony quality. Good raciness, very complete and with a good fruit/freshness balance. Not the most intense but very pretty. (JR)