Domaine de Bila Haut (Chapoutier) V.I.T. 2006

Wineadvocate

The inaugural vintage of this cuvee, Chapoutier’s 2006 Cotes du Roussillon Villages Latour de France v.i.t offers the nose and taste buds sweet cherry, black raspberry, and dark chocolate in abundance. Roasted meat, saline, soy-like savor, and accents of black pepper, herbs, and crushed stone bring fascination to a palate performance that seems to optimize the uncanny ability of Chapoutier’s Roussillon reds to combine richness and density with vivacity and sheer refreshment such as one seldom expects in wines of this alcoholic size and ripeness of flavor. Not that there is a hint of heat or roughness from the alcohol here, nor in any of the other Chapoutier offerings I tasted from 2006 and 2007. There is purity, almost a sense of transparency in this wine that is amazing: every element stands in relief, and without any impression of blurring, rusticity, or thickness, even as it finishes with a startlingly firm grip. I don’t doubt this will be worth following for a decade and probably longer.