89+ John Gilman - View from the Cellar

"The 2008 Cote de Nuits Villages is quite lovely and once again offers up excellent value. The more I taste wines such as this from the village of Brochon, which lies immediately to the north of Gevrey, and where a couple of vineyards are entitled to be sold as Gevrey-Chambertin villages rather than Cote de Nuits Villages, the more I am convinced that eventually Brochon will have its own AOC. The 2008 Bachelet example is really excellent for its level, as it offers up a very Gevrey aromatic signature of dark berries, black cherries, raw cocoa, lovely soil tones and just a touch of wood. On the palate the wine is medium-full, long and supple, with fine focus and impressive length and grip on the finish. Classy juice. 2012-2025+." (12/09)

87-89 Allen Meadows - Burghound

"A pure, fresh, ripe and layered red currant, wood spice and warm earth suffused nose serves as a very pretty introduction to the supple and seductively textured medium-bodied flavors that coat the palate and culminate in a balanced and lingering finish. This too is quite pretty."

"Denis Bachelet noted that 2008, like 2007, required a 'huge amount of work. Because of the difficult summer, you really had to be in your vineyards because there were mildew problems in July. I knew that it was paramount to protect the foliage [mildew typically attacks the leaves] because without them, there can be no photosynthesis and without photosynthesis, there is no ripening of the fruit. Vignerons joke that with no leaves there is no rot but with no leaves, you don't have a harvest! We also pulled a lot of leaves to promote the maximum amount of aeration without losing the leaf canopy. All of this meant that it was absolutely necessary to apply the treatments regularly because a day too long here or there was the difference between stopping the mildew and seeing it rampage. Gevrey was very much a patchwork quilt in 2008 because it was very easy to see which parcels were treated and which ones weren't. Thankfully, all this drama ended around the middle of September as good weather and the north wind returned to finish the maturation process. I elected to begin picking on the 27th of September and while there was some sorting to be done, it wasn't really any worse than most years. Sugars were in the 12% range, which is adequate if not great and yields were around 40 hl/ha. Overall, 2008 is a very pretty vintage that those who love classic burgundies will find much to like.'" (01/10)

88 Stephen Tanzer - Vinous Media

"Medium red. Expressive aromas of blackberry, iron and menthol, lifted by a minty nuance. Juicy and brisk, with bright acidity framing the redcurrant, spice and herb flavors. Finishes precise and persistent, with a saline note. Denis Bachelet noted that the 2008s are more open today than they were just after the early spring bottling, but I'd give this a couple years of aging before pulling the cork." (05/11)

87-88 David Schildknecht - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

"The Bachelet 2008 Cotes de Nuits-Villages offers scents of cedar, beef stock, and fresh blackberry that lend vivacity and a hint of tartness when it hits the palate. Firmer in texture and more adamantly mineral than the corresponding Bourgogne, this almost certainly has greater potential over the next 5-7 years, but lacks that wine’s youthful charm."

"Unsurprisingly, in Bachelet's tiny, shallow, and frigid cellar, his 2008s did not complete malo until September. They were in barrel about to be prepped for bottling, when I visited him in late February, making it the ideal time in his view for tasting them. (And Bachelet's tiny volume makes it relatively easy to accurately approximate the final blend of any wine.) He has always been adamantly opposed to showing his wines for 18-24 months after they are bottled, insisting that in his experience they always suffer in comparison with their performance from barrel as well as with how they will taste 3-4 years after bottling. He did relent and let me taste one 2007 from bottle during my visit, and it was impressive." (06/10)