1997 Richebourg
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Tasting notes
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Average Score
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Allen Meadows, Burghound
More reviews and scores
The medium-to-dark ruby-colored 1997 Richebourg offers a luxurious nose of waxy cherries, plums, hoisin sauce, spices, and fresh herbs. Full-bodied, decadent, and luscious, it is an ample, richly strewn wine with superb structure. Waves of sweet, juicy cherries are interspersed with juniper berries, cloves, vanillin, leather, and raw meat. Projected maturity: 2005-2012+.
Medium red-ruby. Brooding, superripe nose currently dominated by oak. Powerful attack, then hugely sweet and ripe but kept in check by strong acids. Extremely unevolved and not nearly as complex today as the RSV. Powerful and very long, with strong (oak?) tannins. From another barrel: redder fruit aromas are less dominated by the wood. A bit less forbidding in the mouth. This wine will take much longer to express itself than the above.
About the producer
For many, Domaine Leroy represents the pinnacle of fine Burgundy. Owned and run by the legendary Lalou Bize-Leroy, the domaine in Vosne-Romanée is one strand of the Leroy empire, along with Maison Leroy and Domaine d’Auvenay.