2004 Richebourg

Good medium red. Deep, sappy aromas of black cherry, minerals and smoked meat. Silky and thick on entry, then rich and vibrant in the middle palate, with no impression of excess weight. Finishes very long, with unusually silky tannins for the year. These 2004s are approachable from the start, although I would wait on this one.

Good ruby-red. Black fruits, blood orange and violet on the nose. Sweet, dense and chewy, with a fine-grained texture and terrific grip. This rather rigorous, minerally wine conveys an almost medicinal austerity but saturates the palate with flavor. Gros says the acidity here is technically the same as that of the Clos Vougeot, but today this wine seems more nervy.

This is even more expressive aromatically with more spice and floral hints but tighter and firmer in the mouth with big but not robust flavors that are taut, focused and concentrated as there is slightly better mid-palate sap and a bit better balance. This is fresh and intense with a lovely sense of transparency and I suspect this will be capable of a decade's worth of improvement and it should live for at least 20 years. Allen Meadows, Burghound, Jan01,2006