2008 Domaine Georges Roumier, Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru, Les Cras 1x75cl

Neal Martin 92

The 2008 Chambolle-Musigny Les Cras 1er Cru is fragrant on the nose with cranberry and red plum, lots of tertiary elements and an unanticipated scent of star anis with aeration. The palate is very well-defined with fine tannins, no signs of leafiness that I noticed on other Cote de Nuits 2008s recently and harmonious with a pretty finish that arguably just misses a little balance. Probably at its peak now. Tasted blind at the Roumier Les Cras vertical at Medlar, London. [Neal Martin, 10/11/2022]

Anticipated maturity: 2022-2036

Wine Advocate 93

Dark cherry and its pits and tart skin; black raspberry with its seeds; cumin and mace seem to be electrically charged in the Roumier 2008 Chambolle-Musigny Les Cras, with musky floral, savory red meat juice, and crushed stone dimensions on a firm palate adding riveting complexity. There is a certain textural austerity and restraint of sheer ripeness here, but what a concentrated ball of energy we have, making for a finish of spine- as well as tongue-tingling length! Look for at least 12-15 years of stimulation from this. 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 [David Schildknecht, 30/06/2010]

Anticipated maturity: 2010-2025