1990 La Romanee

There can be little doubt that Bouchard's finest wine is La Romanee, a wine with an extraordinary fragrance reminiscent of the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti's La Tache or Romanee-Conti. The 1990 offers aromas of smoked game and Asian spices, combined with lavish quantities of sweet, jammy black fruits and new oak. There is spectacular depth and richness. Moderate tannins are present, but this wine is irresistible because of abundant sweet, opulent, rich fruit, full body, and its velvety texture. If you can find a few bottles of this treasure, cellar them for 3-4 years. It should drink well for the next 15 years.||There has been a total reversal of the winemaking philosophy at Bouchard Pere et Fils. This is one of the wealthiest firms in France, as well as the largest landowner of premier and grand crus in Burgundy. For years their wines, while commercially acceptable, were uninspiring. Yields were not limited, excessive amounts of SO2 were employed, the wines were processed and racked excessively, and, most damaging, they were aggressively filtered, often with sterile micropore filters. Inspired by the exceptional success enjoyed by such negociant firms as Faiveley and Louis Jadot (they had stopped filtering all of their premier and grand crus by 1988, opting for a minimal interventionist process in their winemaking), Paul Bouchard and his son Jean-Francois have begun to turn out their finest wines since the forties and fifties. The wines are deeper-colored and noticeably more concentrated. All the premier crus and grand crus are bottled with minimal additions of SO2, and are not filtered. Consequently, as the notes and scores reveal, there has been a significant leap in quality. Kudos to Bouchard Pere et Fils for recognizing that improvements had to be made, and for having the courage to implement them.||Various importers. Wine Advocate.December, 1993