Fresh cherry and red currant tinged with holly berry, ginger and cardamom and an aura of incense inform Roumier's 2008 Chambolle-Musigny Les Combottes, whose emerging sense of salinity underscores its invigoratingly bright personality, while roasted red meat and forest floor notes that seem to be typical for this site add depth. Here is one of those tightly-knit 2008s that resembles 2005 in what seems paradoxical only in a literal sense, namely a darkly-hued wine whose fruit is blazingly bright. And like a 2005, I would expect this to be best left alone for several years and to then perform well for a decade if not longer. Roumier " being as often the sternest judge of his own wines" opines that the tannins here are "just a little bit drying and granular, on account of the tendency of fruit in Combottes to attain maturity quickly even in cool 2008 when fruit generally ripened slowly." Yet despite the concomitant tendency of Combottes to achieve high natural alcohol - as it did in 2006 - here, even after Roumier's usual slight chaptalization to prolong fermentation, it finished just below 13%. Christophe Roumier says his 2008 fruit demanded rigorous sorting to remove under-ripe bunches (whereas in 2007 this was necessary to remove rot), but he liked what was left enough to indulge in a significant proportion (most frequently 50%) of stems and whole clusters for the fermentations. "With such tiny, perfect berries, it was almost a shame to de-stem any of them," he remarks. Late to go through malo, like so many others of that year, these 2008s certainly preserve the vintage's primary virtues of vivacity and interactive complexity. Not more than 50% new wood was employed, to guard against loss of the vintage's vividly bright fruit in a vintage Roumier felt was unusually sensitive in that regard. Some of the 2008s remind him of 1980 or, more precisely, of what the 1980s could have become given today's standards of viticulture and selection. Roumier has a higher opinion of 2007 and their age-worthiness than do I, considering them superior to 2006 or 2008 - and given the way the two that I tasted from bottle showed, that opinion is not inexplicable. (I tasted the other Roumier 2007s too early in their evolution to render proper verdicts, although they were certainly effusively generous if not yet complex even pre-malo.) Roumier employed comparable percentages of stems and whole clusters, and indulged in more frequent pigeage than in 2008, comparing his resulting 2007s with 1985s. Importer: Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel. (212) 419-1400

Medium red. Subdued but pure aromas of musky red berries and underbrush. Suave and juicy but youthfully tight; showing less flesh today than the Clos de la Bussiere. In fact, this is all spine today and really requires three or four years of aging. Strong spice and pepper notes carry through to the firm finish, which features very good tension. The 2005 was Roumier's first vintage for this cuvee , which is from vines planted in 1999 and 1982.

The 2008 Chambolle-Musigny Les Combottes comes across as somewhat ethereal and fragile. There is good complexity and nuance at the outset, but the intensity of the fruit drops on the mid-palate. The tannins remain firm, but I am not sure all of the elements will ever be in perfect balance here.

Tasted out of barrel at the Domaine. Very reticent on the nose: crushed stone, raspberry leaf, wild strawberry notes emerging reluctantly with coaxing, but remaining tight and a little sultry. The palate is more expressive, a little chalky in texture with sharp, citric acidity, leading to a more structure, almost masculine finish that lingers enticingly. Rather difficult to pin down now, but this should meld together with time. Drink now-2022. Tasted November 2009.