2009 Fixin, Clos de la Perrière, Domaine Joliet

Bottled at the same time as the 2008 and very similar colour. Given the ripeness of the grapes in 2009, Benigne neither punched down nor pumped over so as to avoid heavy extraction. There s still a slight rusticity to the tannins but there's a lovely soft roundness to the fruit. A bottle opened one night and finished the next had taken on extra dimensions of lively fruit.

Various early wine authorities in the 19th century singled out Clos de la Perrière as an exceptional vineyard, Dr Lavalle (1855) noting it as a Tête de Cuvée making wines which kept for longer than any others of the Côte d’Or. Though attempts to have it classified as Perrière-Chambertin in the 1930s failed, Bénigne is about to start work on a dossier to propose Clos de la Perrière as a grand cru now. Up to 10,000 bottles are made each vintage, with young vines being declassified into village Fixin. There is a small amount of white made as well from the coolest part of the vineyard.