Bruno Clair describes 2008 as "one of the rare vintages in recent memory where we had the sugar but not the phenolic ripeness that we wanted so it was absolutely necessary to wait. The summer was mediocre and we were beginning to think that nothing was ever going to get ripe. I remember being at a dinner on the 13th of September with a number of vigneron friends and it was pouring outside. It would be fair to say that the mood was somber. We thought that the vintage was going to be a complete disaster. Then, as if by divine providence, the next morning was bright, sunny and dry with plenty of wind that would last literally until the day of the harvest. We began picking the whites on the 30th of September and finished with the reds on the 14th of October. Managing the pickers was a logistical nightmare because none of the parcels was ripe at the same time and moving them from Savigny to Marsannay and back again quickly proved difficult with all the harvest traffic, which tends to be slow and cumbersome. There was some triage but less than I expected frankly and yields turned out to be reasonable though certainly not high. We did a mostly normal vinification though perhaps with a few less punch downs. Overall, the '08s strike me as being like better balanced '98s." Tasting note: Here the nose offers up an intensely spicy, earthy, gamy and layered dark berry fruit aromatic profile that precedes the tautly muscular, cool and sweet big-boned flavors supported by a powerfully long and driving finish that completely stains the palate. There is a subtle minerality that adds lift to the finish and this is a really beautifully balanced effort that will also age for years. I should point out that this is not a blockbuster Bèze but it's focused, fine and classy.