2007 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue, Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru

Outstanding. An expressive and relatively high-toned red and blue berry fruit nose mixed with subtle spice and floral notes offers a clear step up in aromatic complexity while introducing rich, naturally sweet, intense and sappy flavors that deliver impressive precision and a particularly seductive mouth feel as there is a velvety quality to the beautifully long, linear and balanced finish. This is not a dramatic wine in the manner of the two that follow but it quietly delivers excellent quality. Drink: 2018+
-Allen Meadows, burghound.com Issue 37. Tasted: Jan 30, 2010

Cocoa powder-dusted ripe black raspberry mingles with dark forest floor elements; roasted, subtly caramelized potato skins; and bloody red meat in the fascinating de Vogue 2007 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru. Caressing, rounded richness and sheer generosity characteristic for the entire vintage collection at this address by no means precludes admirable buoyancy and intriguing as well as enticing persistence that compels the next sniff and sip. This should be well worth following for at least 6-8 years, and will in that course of time doubtless more obviously distance itself from the corresponding village-level bottling. But while I may underestimate its longevity, it would I think be a shame if one waited to embrace this Pinot until the youthful bloom was not longer in its cheeks. Unfortunately – a not uncommon circumstance at this address – I was unable to taste the rare de Vogue Les Amoureuses of the vintage. Francois Millet – always keen to pinpoint the expression of fruit he finds in each vintage – characterizes that of 2008 as “syrup-like,” and of 2007 as “candied.” I am skeptical that these metaphors can be generalized, but under no circumstances should “syrup-like” be taken as an attempt to deny the brightness or transparency displayed by so many of the best 2008s, including these. “To have been picked late” – in this instance, starting September 27 – “to have been picked cold, and to have fermented very slowly to created the largest amount of glycerol to combine with the freshness of the vintage,” opines Millet, constitutes a significant part of the 2008s’ secret, seduction, even mystery. “Late malo” – here completed in August – he adds, “was also good, so that the vintage could have a true childhood, and slowly, surely build itself. If we had had a southern wind when the weather changed, maybe we would have lost that identity of 2008. But by there being a northern wind, the evolution was continued” i.e. in a constant, cool trajectory. Not to short-change it, the 2007 vintage collection here is one of those few capable of standing direct comparison to its immediate successor – or indeed to nearly any other vintage from this address. Imported by Dreyfus Ashby, New York, NY; tel. (212) 818-0770; also a Peter Vezan Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011 33 1 42 55 42 93

Good medium red. Bright aromas of dark raspberry, blackberry, violet, licorice and fresh herbs, with some spicy oak showing. Juicy and sweet, with citrus peel and blood orange notes contributing energy and cut, as well as a slightly malic quality. Densely packed but a bit ungiving today.