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The Wine Advocate Review Drouhin's 1992s are similar in style to the excellent 1989s. The wines are fat, ripe, tasty, and ideal for drinking over the near term because of their low acidity and their fleshy, open-knit style. I preferred the 1992 Chablis-Valdon to the 1992 Chablis-Vaudesir, a subtle, less intense, restrained, understated wine.
The Wine Advocate Review The exceptional Pommard Les Rugiens should last for at least 10 years. It has a fabulous roasted bouquet of black fruits and spicy oak, full body, layers of extract, and a finish that lasted for well over a minute. Very exotic, rich, and profound, this is a wine to search out. All of Bouley's wines are reasonably priced for their quality.
The Wine Advocate Review The 1996 is fully mature, quite fruity, yet a little more reserved and sterner than the richer, more opulent 1970. The wine reveals some browning at the edge, good concentration, earthy, fruity flavors, and a soft, round finish. Anticipated maturity: Now-may be in decline. Last tasted, 4/82.
The Wine Advocate Review The 1992 reveals a deep ruby color, a sweet, ripe nose of black fruits, smoke, and minerals, fine ripeness and richness, medium body, an elegant personality, and a supple, slightly tannic finish. It should be mature in 4-5 years and last for 15 or more.
The Wine Advocate Review The Griotte-Chambertin (spelled without an "s" here) is a dazzling wine made from 65-year-old vines. Dark ruby with an intense raspberry fruitiness, extraordinary concentration and depth on the palate, this mind-boggling wine should drink well until 1997.
The Wine Advocate Review The 2005 Nuits-St.-Georges Les Perrieres (from 63- to 68-year-old vines) leads with fresh and distilled black cherry, cola and toasted nut aromas, offers expansive, rich strawberry and cherry fruit on a creamy palate, and reveals impressively stony underlying minerality in its long, sweetly-fruited, cherry pit-, iodine- and spice-inflected finish. This might seem understated at first sip, but it offers wonderful depth...
The Wine Advocate Review The exceptional 2000 Cotes du Rhone-Villages Font d'Estevanas is a blend of 60% Syrah and 40% Grenache. It offers ripe Syrah's classic creme de cassis character, surprisingly good acidity for the vintage, a lush mid-palate, fine definition, deep, medium to full-bodied flavors, and well-integrated tannin, acidity, and alcohol. It should drink well for 5-8 years. The wine was were bottled unfiltered for the American...
The Wine Advocate Review Displaying liquid mineral scents and an oily, rich, light-to-medium-bodied character, the Anjou has attractive lemon, slate and stone flavors. Anticipated maturity: now-2001. A Patrick Lesec Selection, Paris Fax # 011-33-1-44-70-62-93.
The Wine Advocate Review Using an idea first pioneered by Guigal, Vidal-Fleury's 1993 Cotes du Rhone Blanc contains a healthy dose of Viognier, giving the wine an intensely fragrant, honeysuckle/peach/apricot nose. There is fine chewy fleshiness, medium body, and a delicious, crisp, ripe finish. It is ideal for drinking over the next year. The current offerings represent the best wines Vidal-Fleury's new owner has yet produced, reflecting the...
The Wine Advocate Review In 1987 there is an expansive, succulent, medium-bodied, round, and very flattering Gevrey-Chambertin-Clos de Fonteny. It should be drunk over the next 4 to 6 years.
The Wine Advocate Review Chateau de la Peyrade has three current Muscat cuvees in the marketplace. Two come from their vineyards in the viticultural area called D'Oc. The 1991 Cuvee des Abeilles is off-dry, with a big, flowery, orange and apricot-scented nose, medium-bodied, intense, honeyed flavors, and a long finish. It should be consumed over the next 1-2 years. Muscat is one of those terribly under-rated wines that probably suffers from most...
The Wine Advocate Review Displaying a nose reminiscent of a vine's flower in the springtime (beautifully sweet with hints of cream and spice), the silky-textured Meursault Goutte d'Or exhibits an explosive flavor profile packed with flavors of spices and sweet fruit. This full-bodied wine will age gracefully for 10 years. This note is the result of tastings I did in Burgundy between January 7 and January 29. Ratings with a range of scores in...
The Wine Advocate Review The 1992 Chateauneuf du Pape is a round, delicious wine with surprising robustness and power for a Chateauneuf from this medium-weight vintage. The wine exhibits a sweet, jammy fruitiness and medium to full body. Drink it over the next 7-8 years.
The Wine Advocate Review The 2003 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Caillerets (white) exhibits a nose of almonds as well as a tightly wound attack that blossoms to reveal apple and mineral flavors before being cut short in the finish. It should be drunk over the next 2-3 years.
The Wine Advocate Review This medium-bodied, old style St.-Emilion reveals a desiccated, herbaceous character along with notions of dried cherries and old oak. Obviously made from a harvest where little selection was employed, it needs to be drunk over the next 5-6 years.
The Wine Advocate Review The 2001 St.-Joseph l’Olivaie possesses a deep, saturated ruby/purple color in addition to a big, sweet nose of licorice, black cherries, cassis, herbs, and earth. It should drink well for a decade. A Patrick Lesec Selection, various American importers, including Stacole Fine Wines, Boca Raton, FL; tel. (561) 998-0023, Classic Wines, Boston, MA; tel. (617) 469-5799, Fine Vines LLC, Maywood, IL; tel. (708) 343-5901, and...
The Wine Advocate Review Bottled the week before I visited, his 2005 Morey-St.-Denis en la Rue de Vergy displays aromas of fresh, ripe plum, black cherry, bitter herbs and toasted nuts. Ripe plum and black cherry along with deep rich meatiness mingle in the mouth with notes of mineral salt and iodine and sweet nut oil nuances. Creamy in texture and boasting remarkably fine tannins for a village wine and no hint of its 50% new wood, this finishes...
The Wine Advocate Review Vidal-Fleury does a consistently good job with some of the less prestigious appellations of the Rhone Valley. I have found their Cotes du Rhone and Cotes du Ventoux to be richly fruity, soft, well-made wines with a good deal of character and pleasure giving qualities. The 1989 Cotes du Rhone is more tannic, but plump, fleshy, and tasty, with a nice peppery, black fruit-scented nose and generously endowed, expansive...
The Wine Advocate Review The 1988 Clos Rene, which has more tannin than the 1989, as well as more structure, is a rich, complete wine. Anticipated maturity: Now-1999.
The Wine Advocate Review No tasting note given.
The Wine Advocate Review The opaque purple-colored 1997 St.-Joseph Reflet displays medium to full body, and plenty of toasty new oak nicely complemented by ripe cassis fruit. Although monolithic, this excellent wine offers good purity, richness, and palate appeal. It should drink well over the next 7-8 years.
The Wine Advocate Review Tasted but no rating given.
The Wine Advocate Review Those budget-conscious consumers who routinely drink white burgundy already realize the potential for the Chalonnais appellation of Montagny. Vachet is a name closely associated with the best Montagny, and his 1989 and 1990 are more similar in character than the two very different vintages would suggest. They have a wonderful, stony, cold steel-scented fruit, elegant, apple blossom-scented noses, with the 1989 having...
The Wine Advocate Review Domaine du Belvezet has been a frequent entry in this journal's "best buy" pages. I am more familiar with Domaine du Belvezet's round, peppery, spicy red wine. The 1993 (which contains more Syrah than normal) has turned out very well. It exhibits a sweet, black-cherry-scented nose intertwined with whiffs of pepper and herbs. Soft, round, medium-bodied, and plump, this straightforward, tasty, red wine can be drunk over...
The Wine Advocate Review The micro-cuvee, which is pretty stunning stuff even though the price looks high by the standards of Vacqueyras, is the 2005 Vacqueyras Cantarelle, a blend of 100+-year-old Grenache representing 75% of the total cuvee and the rest 25% Syrah. This wine, of which there are only 500 cases, is stunning, with deep purple color and a seriously intense nose of blueberry, blackberry, licorice, and pepper. The wine is pure,...
The Wine Advocate Review One of the vintage’s most compelling efforts is Cristia’s 2005 Chateauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes. It boasts a dense purple hue along with spectacular aromas of camphor, creosote, incense, blackberries, and caramelized cherries. Made from 100% old vine Grenache and aged in neutral small oak casks, this spectacularly rich wine exhibits a multilayered texture, fabulous density, and a finish that lasts nearly 60...
The Wine Advocate Review The 1999 Condrieu La Galopine is reasonably good, but straightforward. It is best drunk over the next 1-2 years.
The Wine Advocate Review The deep ruby/purple-colored 2003 Gigondas Cuvee Traditionelle exhibits sweet aromas of candied black cherries, currants, earth, licorice, and flowers. Medium to full-bodied and rich, with supple tannin, admirable definition, and an elegant personality, it should drink well for 7-8 years.
The Wine Advocate Review Fully mature, the 1978 reveals a deep purple color, an intense bouquet of grilled meats and herbs intertwined with cassis, superb concentration, and firm tannin in the long finish. Anticipated maturity: now-2006. Last tasted 11/94.
The Wine Advocate Review Creamed minerals intermingled with notes of earth can be discerned in the nose of the 2003 Chassagne-Montrachet Maltroie (white). Seamless, forward, and fruity, this pleasing light to medium-bodied wine lacks the finish required for a higher score. It should be drunk over the next 3 years.
The Wine Advocate Review Rated - No tasting note given.
The Wine Advocate Review Smoky oak, bacon, and minerals can be discerned in the aromatic profile of the 2002 Chevalier-Montrachet. Light to medium-bodied, focused, and detailed, this is a pure wine dominated by smoky oak and gravel flavors. It should be consumed between 2005 and 2010.
The Wine Advocate Review No tasting note given.
The Wine Advocate Review Peppery dark berries are found in the aromatics of the 2001 Expression de Massamier La Mignarde Carignan. A densely packed, intensely-flavored effort, it reveals loads of blackberries and cassis in its pure, medium-bodied, and fresh personality. This well-ripened, silky-textured wine reveals an admirably long, expressive finish. It should be enjoyed over the next 5 years.
The Wine Advocate Review The medium-to-dark ruby-colored Beaune displays an enticing sweet nose of cherries and cinnamon as well as a beautifully crafted, medium-bodied, silky-textured and supple personality crammed with spicy and jammy red cherries. Succulent and delicious, it will age gracefully through 2001. This is a first rate village wine! As always, ratings with a score in parentheses indicate the wine was tasted from cask, not bottle....
The Wine Advocate Review Lignier's Charmes-Chambertin has a deep ruby color and a rich, sweet, expansive palate. It shows a glorious opulence for the vintage and has a seductive, lush finish. It is medium to full bodied, has surprising concentration, and should drink beautifully until 1996-1997. It is a charming mouthful of wine. All of Lignier's wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered.
The Wine Advocate Review Readers looking for top-notch red wine values should check out this tank-fermented and aged 2000. The soft, low acid 2000 Crozes-Hermitage Les Meysonniers exhibits medium body, pleasant currant and herb-tinged fruit flavors, and good ripeness. It is a well-made, user-friendly effort of no great distinction.
The Wine Advocate Review The Savigny-Les-Beaune is straightforward, a little dry and hard, but adequate.
The Wine Advocate Review The 1998 Moulin-a-Vent Domaine des Rosiers is dark ruby/purple-colored, and has a sur-maturite Pinot Noir nose of jammy red cherries. This is a beautifully dense, deep wine, with excellent structure, a medium to full body, and loads of red and black cherry fruit. Anticipated maturity: 2001-2004. Importers are William Deutsche and Sons Ltd., White Plains, NY; tel (914) 251-9463, and Winesellers Ltd., Skokie, IL; tel....
The Wine Advocate Review A hugely spicy wine, the 2000 Tokay-Pinot Gris Vorbourg Clos St.-Landelin reveals massive ripeness. Acting more like a Gewurztraminer than a Pinot Gris, it displays copious layers of yellow plums, exotic fruits, peaches, and candied lemons. Medium to full-bodied, it is concentrated and has an admirably long finish. Anticipated maturity: Now-2014.
The Wine Advocate Review Trignon's 1999 Cotes du Rhone is surprisingly delicious. Aromas of guava, melon, and honey are present in this tasty, lovingly-fashioned, soft, round, clean white. Drink it over the next year.
The Wine Advocate Review Boxlers 2005 Gewurztraminer Reserve offers scents of rose petal, celery seed, and clove. With a lovely and unusual sense of delicacy and refinement for this variety, it comes onto the palate featuring honey and rose petal with low-toned coffee-mocha and caramelized parsnip and celery root, and finishing a tad sweet though not imbalanced in and of itself.
The Wine Advocate Review Possessing a medium-to-dark ruby color and intense blackberry aromas, the Savigny-Les-Beaune Les Narbantons exhibits powerful, highly-expressive red and black cherries as well as earth, truffles, and stones in its complex and medium-to-full body. This concentrated, focused, and extracted wine should be at its peak between 2000 and 2006. As an aside, I've recently tasted superb bottles of the 1993 Narbantons and...
The Wine Advocate Review This medium-to-dark ruby-colored wine (1991 was the estate's first vintage) exhibits delightful floral, perfumed, violet, and blueberry aromas. This elegant, lace-like, medium-bodied, feminine wine offers flavors of raspberries, red currants, sugar-coated strawberries, and earth. It is extremely appealing for its precision and purity. Drink it between 2000 and 2007.
The Wine Advocate Review This petit chateau, owned by the huge Dourthe firm, is a good source of well-made Bordeaux that is best consumed during its first 2-3 years of life. A sleeper of the vintage as well as a best buy, the 2003 is a plush, fleshy wine possessing smoked herb, black currant, and black cherry characteristics. It is a round, generous claret to enjoy over the next several years.
The Wine Advocate Review The tightly wound 2000 Tokay-Pinot Gris Hengst reveals smoky, spicy scents. Medium to full-bodied, rich, yet backward, it will require cellaring to blossom. Its anise, quinine, and crisp pear-flavored personality is intense and powerful. Projected maturity: 2006-2016.
The Wine Advocate Review The deep ruby-colored 2006 Cote Rotie, which is dominated by purchases from the Cote Brune, has some striking olive and lavender notes intermixed with pepper, underbrush, sweet currants, and raspberries. It is an elegant, lighter style to drink over the next 7-8 years. This high-quality negociant operation, started by Burgundian Dominique Laurent and his southern sidekick, the charismatic Michel Tardieu, continues to...
The Wine Advocate Review The 2005 Chateauneuf du Pape Tradition (55% Grenache, 30% Syrah, and the rest Mourvedre with a tiny bit of Cinsault and a handful of other grapes) has a deep ruby/purple color, a big, sweet nose of blueberries, crushed strawberries, graphite, and some acacia flower and barrique smells. The wine is fresh, rich, powerful, but vibrant and well-defined. This wine should turn out to be long-lived but approachable in its...
The Wine Advocate Review This dark ruby-colored wine displays sweet fruit on the attack, but it narrows in the mouth. It should drink well for 5-6 years.
The Wine Advocate Review The 2002 Morey-St.-Denis Clos de la Bussiere boasts lovely scents of dark cherries, earth, violets, and spice. Broad, medium-bodied, and silky-textured, it coats the palate with minerals immersed in blackberries. Its tannin is highly present yet ripe. Drink it between 2007 and 2012.
The Wine Advocate Review Orange blossoms and earth tones can be found in the 1998 Muscat Herrenweg de Turckheim's nose. Light-to-medium-bodied and bone-dry, this satin-textured wine exhibits flavors reminiscent of mandarin drenched minerals. It should be consumed before 2002.
The Wine Advocate Review This stern, tough-textured wine needs some time in the cellar. The question is, will aging improve its charm?
The Wine Advocate Review The finest bet for long-term cellaring is the more meaty, structured, and tannic, dark ruby/purple-colored 2005 Cote Rotie Paradis from the Cote Brune. This wine is rich, medium to full-bodied, ripe, yet shows plenty of tannin and a steely austerity in the finish. Give it 2-3 years of cellaring and drink it over the next 10-12 years. No known American importer.
The Wine Advocate Review The 1999 Chateauneuf du Pape possesses big fruit, a complex, layered, full-bodied style offering glycerin, succulence, alcohol, fruit, and a friendly personality. Drink it over the next 6-7 years.
The Wine Advocate Review Leflaive's 1992 Montrachet (only their second vintage) is a candidate for the Montrachet of the vintage. Only 25 cases were produced. The quintessential Chardonnay, it is an awesomely rich, highly extracted wine oozing with flavor, yet it is marvelously precise and focused. A mammoth-sized wine, it should drink well for 15 or more years. The Domaine Leflaive has enjoyed many successful vintages over the years - 1979,...
The Wine Advocate Review As superb as Leoville Poyferres 2005 is, it does not appear to be as profound as their 2003, but I may be proven wrong once the wine is bottled. Flowery creme de cassis aromas interwoven with hints of blackberries, licorice, and pain grille jump from the glass of this opaque purple-colored St.-Julien. Possessing medium to full body, sweet tannin, an expansive, multilayered mid-palate, good acidity and freshness, and a...
The Wine Advocate Review Pungently herbal, smoky, distilled pit fruit aromatics lead to a richly-textured palate featuring honey-glazed dried pit fruits with herb and fruit pit accents. Smooth and polished in texture, strikingly concentrated, but with an undeniably bitter side to it, this lays down impressively long mineral finishing traces.
The Wine Advocate Review A classy offering, the 2000 Cotes du Rhone Les Abeilles is a blend of Viognier, Clairette, and Grenache Blanc. It possesses delicious peach, honeysuckle, and citrusy fruit, light to medium body, excellent purity, and a clean, dry finish.
The Wine Advocate Review Light to medium-bodied and crystalline, the 2002 Puligny-Montrachet Champsgain offers aromas of spices and minerals. Quinine, quartz, and stones can be found in its tightly wound, lively personality. It should be consumed over the next 4-5 years.
The Wine Advocate Review The Chablis Fourchaume displays salt and flint aromas and an excellent, bracingly racy, medium body. On the palate, deep, lively, citrusy and minerally fruit are found in this tangy, crisp, complex, and persistent wine. It should be consumed between 1999 and 2003.
The Wine Advocate Review The Clos Vougeot, aged in 50% new oak, is a rich, intense, flamboyant wine with a bouquet of raspberries, apricots, spicy, vanillin-scented oak, and long, flowing, exotic flavors. It is full bodied for the vintage, and should drink well for at least a decade. The Clos Vougeot at this estate comes from the only parcel of the Clos Vougeot vineyard that is contiguous to the Grand Cru of Musigny. Those consumers lucky enough...
The Wine Advocate Review The Domaine Lecheneaut's grand cru, Clos de la Roche, is an exotic wine, with a huge nose of cinnamon, smoke, tobacco, and black fruits. In the mouth, it offers admirable density and richness, a chewy, fleshy texture endowed with significant glycerin and extract, as well as a sweet, long, velvety finish. The wine is so rich, sweet, and tasty that I could not resist drink it. Considerable tannin lurks under the lavish...
The Wine Advocate Review Aged in 20% oak barrels, the 2005 Julienas Chateau des Capitans (an estate jointly owned by Duboeuf and his US importer, Bill Deutsch) boasts a profound nose of spicy black cherries. Medium-bodied, expansive, spicy, and pure, this well-focused wine sports a wonderfully sweet character crammed with red as well as black fruits. It is fruit-driven yet structured and should age well. Drink it over the next 7-8 years.
The Wine Advocate Review A superb, vin de garde style of Gigondas, this 2000 offering is unyielding, but loaded. Medium to full-bodied, with high tannin as well as impressively rich extract, this 90% Grenache/10% Syrah blend requires 3-5 years of cellaring; it should keep for 12-15 years.
The Wine Advocate Review From near the route nationale, Magniens 2005 Morey-St.-Denis Tres Girard mingles sweet black cherry with tar and resin in the nose, comes onto the palate creamy and almost superficially sweet, and finishes with a rather rough overlay of tannin that belies the sweet creamy mid-palate. Possibly this needs to knit itself post-bottling. PLEASE NOTE: Due to a technical difficulty, I have been regrettably unable to access my...
The Wine Advocate Review The 2003 Gigondas is a very good effort in a difficult vintage for that appellation. Medium-bodied, with soft tannin, plenty of berry fruit intermixed with flower and licorice notes, it should drink well for 7-8 years.
The Wine Advocate Review This was an uninspiring wine from a Swiss-owned domaine outside Beaune. I do not have any experience with prior vintages, but the wine was diluted, shallow, and seemed clearly the product of a domaine that had produced entirely too much wine, rather than keeping yields down and looking for some concentration and character. It should be consumed by 1991-1992.
The Wine Advocate Review (No specific comments)
The Wine Advocate Review The ruby and amber-colored 1994 Richebourg displays complex spice, cassis, and floral aromas, It is massively structured, with outstanding depth of blackcurrant and blackberry fruit intermingled with touches of cedar. It remains fresh, and powerful, and possesses a firm, tannic backbone. Anticipated maturity: 2002-2006.
The Wine Advocate Review This wine is superb. The Charmes-Chambertin is a great wine, filled with layers of ripe, rich fruit, a complex, full-intensity bouquet of toasty new oak, and a supple, velvety texture, but enough tannins to ensure a decade of longevity. The 1985s from this famous firm are all impeccably clean, correct, well-made wines. Drouhin has managed to preserve the individual identity of each appellation as the wines do not taste...
The Wine Advocate Review This producers budget-priced wines are delicious. Filled with character and personality, they are joyfully satisfying, and were among the hits of my tastings. The wine for which this domaine is probably best known, their sparkling wine called Cremant de Lamoux, is one of the best sparkling wines I have tasted from this region of France. At $14 a bottle it is too expensive to be included in this report, but it bears...
The Wine Advocate Review The 1997 Chateauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes (made from 60-100 year old vines) reveals a deep plum/ruby color, as well as depth, glycerin and sweetness, and peppery spice intermixed with blackberries, cherries, and minerals. It is an excellent, medium-bodied, forward, well-made example that will drink well upon release, and will keep well for 7-8 years.
The Wine Advocate Review The medium to dark ruby-colored 1999 Vosne-Romanee Cros Parentoux has a gorgeous nose of intensely sweet cherries. Medium to full-bodied, it reveals a wonderful breadth of lush red and black cherry fruit in its exuberantly spicy personality. Toasted oak and copious quantities of marvelously ripe tannin characterize its impressively long finish. Projected maturity: 2004-2012.
The Wine Advocate Review Produced from a blend of 70% Carignan and the balance Grenache, the 2000 Coteaux du Languedoc-La Clape La Cote has sexy sweat and sweet blackberry aromas. Medium-bodied and rich, it coats the palate with copious quantities of dark fruits, cassis, as well as hints of licorice. Well-made and fruit-forward, this is a delicious, velvety-textured wine for drinking over the next four years.
The Wine Advocate Review Just beginning to blossom and open, the 1982 Ducru-Beaucaillou is unquestionably the best wine made at this estate since 1961. The concentrated, viscous, dark ruby/purple color is followed by explosive aromas of spring flowers, blackcurrants, minerals, and toast. It is fuller-bodied than normal, with remarkable delineation, great richness, and that wonderful sweetness that is a hallmark of this vintage. This long,...
The Wine Advocate Review The 1999 Bienvenue-Batard-Montrachet has a lovely, rich, toasty nose. Medium-bodied, opulent, and deep, it has an oak, white/red berry, and apple-flavored personality. Projected maturity: 2003-2010.
The Wine Advocate Review In April, 1991 I had this vintage of Margaux from a private collection in Bordeaux. The 1929 was fading.
The Wine Advocate Review The 1986 L'Eglise-Clinet remains a young, densely-colored wine with gobs of fruit and intensity. I have always preferred it to such other vintages as 1982, 1983, and 1989. The full-bodied 1986 exhibits excellent concentration and an over-ripe component. It can be drunk now or cellared for another 20-30 years. Last tasted 12/95
The Wine Advocate Review Irrefutably mediocre, the 2004 reds are herbal, thin, austere, unattractive efforts, and only a few will be recommendable after bottling. No specific tasting notes were given for this wine. Hopefully, the new owners will beef these wines up with a stricter selection prior to bottling.
The Wine Advocate Review The Beaune-Chouacheux is supple, ripe, fruity, and pleasant.
The Wine Advocate Review The 2006 Ermitage Chante Alouette has the vintage’s aromatics, zesty underlying acidity that serves to buttress the enormous richness, and notes of liquified flowers, rocks, and licorice. In both vintages, around 1,400-1,500 cases of Chante Alouette were made, as it is his biggest cuvee of white Ermitage. With twenty vintages under his belt, Michel Chapoutier and his impressive winemaking staff go from strength to...
The Wine Advocate Review I had never heard of this estate when I tasted the superb Gevrey-Chambertin En Etelois. I understand Livera produces wines from other, more highly vaunted vineyards, but they were not made available to taste. This wine was outstanding ... and it comes from only a village appellation vineyard! For those readers interested in the geographical layouts of vineyards, Etelois is located just below Griotte-Chambertin, between...
The Wine Advocate Review The Chambertin is too oaky, shallow, and diluted. This is a famous domaine with the vineyards and cellar to produce exceptional wine if Jean Trapet would limit his yields and go back to the traditional techniques (no filtration) of his father, Louis.
The Wine Advocate Review Young Bertrand Sourdais is best known as winemaker at the Ribera del Duero’s Dominio de Atauta, a job he landed right out of oenology school in Bordeaux, and whence he commutes from the Loire. In 2003, Sourdais decided to take over his family’s domaine and begin estate-bottling their Chinon. In his second commercial vintage, the 2005 Chinon Les Pensees de Pallus (the name under which his flagship wine is bottled) has...
The Wine Advocate Review The 1990 red Chateauneuf du Pape should prove to have 15 or more years of longevity. It is a highly concentrated, backstrapping, muscular, big wine. The color is a dark ruby/purple. With swirling, a spicy, peppery nose of cassis fruit and herbs is apparent. Full-bodied and impressively endowed, this large-scaled wine requires some cellaring to shed its cloak of tannin. The key to buying Clos du Mont Olivet is to buy the...
The Wine Advocate Review A limited cuvee (500 cases) from Bernard Magrez, this 100% Merlot exhibits an opaque purple color as well as an explosively rich, fruity, full-bodied style loaded with personality and character. It should drink well for 7-10 years.
The Wine Advocate Review The explosive red fruit aromatics of the 2003 Richebourg lead to a big, dense character of impeccable ripeness. Bold and vaunting a spicy red cherry core of immense amplitude, this powerful, medium to full-bodied offering slathers the palate with sweet fruit and seamlessly lingers for 45 seconds or more. Quite primary, it comes across more as a barrel sample than a bottled wine. Projected maturity: 2007-2017.
The Wine Advocate Review The 2003 Meursault Goutte dOr (white) offers a nose of toasted oak. On the palate, this medium-bodied wine expands to reveal a substantial personality that is crammed with pulp-laden pears, spicy apples, and buttered hazelnuts. Oily-textured and expressive, it also boasts outstanding focus, concentration, and length. It should be enjoyed over the next 7-8 years.
The Wine Advocate Review A new discovery for me, proprietor Marc Besnardeau has turned out a delicious, unfiltered 1998 Cotes du Rhone Villages Cuvee Gabrielle produced from a blend of two-thirds Grenache and one-third Syrah. I have already consumed six bottles of this wine, all of which were immensely enjoyable. Notes of raspberry liqueur, cherries, and fraises des bois jump from the fruit-driven aromatics of this dark ruby-colored 1998....
The Wine Advocate Review Prieur's 1997 Meursault Perrieres exhibits fresh cream scents and an expansive, mouth-coating (yet refined) personality. This outstanding wine is broad, thick, medium-to-full-bodied, and crammed with nuts, minerals, stones, and ripe pears. Its long, detailed finish displays flavors reminiscent of sea shells and sun-baked rocks. Projected maturity: now-2005.
The Wine Advocate Review No tasting note given.
The Wine Advocate Review Last Tasted 6/92 This exceptionally elegant, vividly fresh wine has drunk well since it was bottled. Its attractive nose of lemon rind, herbs, and grilled nuts is reminiscent of a top Meursault. The characteristic Leflaive elegance, medium-bodied weight, and excellent richness and purity are all apparent. 1985 was a highly successful vintage for the Domaine Leflaive, which is admirably reflected by this offering. It...
The Wine Advocate Review 94+) Produced from 45 year old vines, the Meursault en L'Ormeau reveals deep ripeness and candied nuts on the nose. This is a rich, awesomely deep, medium-to-full-bodied, balanced, and velvety wine packed with white fruits, smoke, toast, and grilled hazelnuts. Anticipated maturity: Now-2003. The rating, with the range of scores in parentheses, indicates the wine was tasted from cask, not bottle. Ente has met with a...
The Wine Advocate Review The 1995 Chassagne Montrachet is not made from any Chassagne village appellation vineyards. According to Guffens and Ryckaert, it is a blend of young vines from the 1er Cru Morgeot and Chaumes vineyards, as well as the press wines from other Chassagne 1er crus. Revealing herbal and stony aromas, this wine is explosively rich, with stony, earthy minerals abundantly displayed. This fat-textured, structured,...
The Wine Advocate Review The lovely, refined nose of the 2000 Gewurztraminer Reserve Personnelle is reminiscent of a freshly cut bouquet of roses. Delicately laced, this light to medium-bodied wine displays lush, pure potpourri, spice, and lily-like flavors in its fresh personality as well as in its long finish.
The Wine Advocate Review The 1998 Savigny-Les-Beaune Les Monchenevoys "Cuvee Speciale" reveals floral, orange rind aromas. This medium-bodied wine is well-made, exhibiting lovely pear, citrus fruit, and mineral flavors in its vivacious personality. It is delineated, tangy, and long in the finish. Anticipated maturity: now-2003.
The Wine Advocate Review This wine was rated, but no tasting note was given.
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