Given the formidable tannins and rather austere minerality of several other wines in Perrot-Minot’s present collection, I have to admit that I approached a glass of his 2008 Chapelle-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes with a bit of trepidation, knowing the proclivities of that site. Charred red meat, game, blackberry, iris, and Lapsang tea, along with a suffusion of chalk and peat make for a formidably intense impression, and this wine’s tannins, while fine-grained, are certainly abundant. But invigoration and levity are introduced by way of primary fresh berry juiciness (including a squeeze of red currant) and strong salinity, plus a lovely sweetness gains the upper hand in the expression of blackberry and dark cherry fruit, banishing any hint of austerity from the stoniness, bitter black tea, and fruit pit elements in this wine’s palate-staining finish. This should be a 15-20 year keeper.

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