Domaine Lucien Boillot & Fils Les Pruliers, Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru, France

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Like an elixir of black raspberry, the 2008 Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Pruliers from Boillot's nearly centenarian vines exhibits a textural viscosity and creaminess as well as a sheer sweetness of fruit unusual for the vintage and otherwise not encountered in his collection. Yet there is inner brightness and vibratory sense of energy. Pan drippings and brown spices add allure to this formidably palate-staining Pinot that should merit following from at least a dozen years. Pierre Boillot - Lucien's grandson, for details on whose history, properties, and connection with other Boillots, see issues and 186 and 170 - noted that his Cote de Beaune fruit required more rigorous sorting in 2008 than did that from the Cote de Nuits, and the former resulted in several wines of relatively aggressive astringency. I tasted his 2008s prior to their March and April bottlings, and (except where noted) assembled from tank. (Unfortunately, shortage of time kept me from tasting Boillot's 2007s.)Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524

From (per an official record) 97 year-old vines, Boillot's 2006 Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Pruliers came, remarkably, not from his family inheritance, but from a retiring Nuits-St.-Georges grower who for political reasons wanted to sell these vines to somebody from any town other than Nuits-St.-Georges. Boillot didn't have much money then, so he arranged for a share-cropping and sweat equity deal. "I looked at these old decrepit vines in 1985," he relates, "and thought to myself, 'this will be the last and only vintage from them.'" The result, says Boillot, was the best wine he had ever made, so that was the last time he entertained the thought of ripping these vines. Cassis and blueberry are dusted with brown spices and wreathed with musky, daffodil-like perfume. This combines intense richness with a clear, juicy, buoyant fruit character through which floral and mineral nuances waft and glimmer. The tannins here are extraordinarily fine and the finish engenders involuntary salivation and cravings for the next sip. Plan on relishing this beauty over the next dozen or more years. Pierre Boillot (grandson of Lucien) vinified and marketed together until 2003 with his slightly older brother Louis (who now shares facilities with his wife Ghislaine Barthod, and most of the same appellations as Pierre, and on whose outstanding wines I reported in issue 170 and again in this issue). They then separated their shares of inheritance, which include equally prime acreage in both Cotes, thanks to Lucien having long ago left his family's Volnay estate (now Domaine Henri Boillot) to stake his own claim in Gevrey. My first visit to taste here convinced me that this address and Pierre Boillot's talent should be known to all Burgundy lovers. Pierre Boillot lays great store by lees enrichment, never bottling before the second spring, and then without filtration.Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524