Raquillet's 2007 Mercurey Les Veleys Revelation represents a segregation of the fruit from his two parcels of oldest (centenarian) vines, and two of the three barrels in which it was raised for 18 months were new. Peaty-smoky and redolent of dark fruits and forest floor, it comes onto the palate quite meaty and substantial as well as persistently smoky and tartly-edged, finishing on toasted nuts; roasted red meats; plum and dark cherry with the bitterness of their fruits; chalk, salt, and peat. What this might lack in charm it makes up for in fascinating complexity and sheer grip. There is impressive concentration and plenty of fine-grained tannin, and it might well be worth following for 3-5 years, though I would enjoy some young and plan to keep close tabs on any bottles in my cellar, just as with most other wines of its vintage. -I was really looking to preserve fruit and precision of fruit with my 2008s,- explains Francois Raquillet, -and to work very lightly,- inter alia without pigeage. He dialed back to 20% the quotient of new barrels for his crus (increasingly, he favors demi-muids) and bottled them soon after the beginning of this year, and once again proving that it is possible to offer highly-satisfying and interesting red Burgundy at a modest price. He compares these latest results - with unadjusted percentages of alcohol in the upper 12s - to those in 2002, a collection that still drinks well.A Thomas Calder Selection (various importers), Paris fax 011-33-1-46-45-15-29