2008 Musigny Grand Cru

With the 2007 vintage the radical recent improvements put in place at Faiveley should be apparent even to the palate-dead, and the purity and terroir complexity of the 2008s should be even more remarkable. According to CEO/advisor Bernard Hervet, the phenolic ripeness was ahead of the sugar ripeness in 2008, and Faiveley picked on the late side, eliminating 5% to 7% of the grapes on the sorting table. This is a very serious crop of wines here, and yet they are not hard-as they might well have been even five years ago, when the quality of oak used here was not nearly as good. The aromatics of the 2008s knocked me out in November, but the Faiveley 2007s are also standouts, with unusual precision, energy and perfume for their vintage.