1993 Domaine Maurice Ecard et Fils Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Serpentieres 1er Cru

There are two cuvees of 1993 Savigny-Les-Beaune Les Serpentieres. This wine reached 13.6% alcohol naturally, which is high for a 1993 as most grapes came in at 19-20 brix. Such wines were chaptalized to reach 12-12.5% alcohol. The wine offers terrific fruit, wonderful rich, well-proportioned flavors, medium to full body, and considerable guts and richness in the long finish. Fortunately, there is an abundance of fruit rather than tannin. The tannin is more noticeable in the filtered cuvee than in the special bottling done for both the North Berkeley Wine Co. and the renowned Vietnamese restaurant in Paris, Tan Dinh. The unfiltered cuvee, while richer and fuller, is also more forward because more fruit is present. Ecard successfully tamed the ferocious tannin of the 1993 vintage. His 1993s support the general notion that 1993 is a consistently brilliant year for red Burgundy. All of his wines are classic Pinot Noirs - pure, fragrant, expansive, and well-balanced, rather than excessively tannic, hollow, acidic, or charmless. These are all classy Pinot Noirs. It is a shame there are not more red burgundies like Ecard's premiers crus from Savigny-Les-Beaune. His wines go from strength to strength, offering vivid, ripe, elegant Pinot Noirs that are full of fruit, wonderfully pure, representative of their different terroirs, and are sold at modest prices. Ecard's wines drink well young yet can age for 10-12 years. This is an estate to seek out for modestly priced Pinot Noir that delivers the goods. Importers: North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 848-8910 (only the unfiltered cuvees), Europvin USA, Watertown, MA; tel. (617) 924-7620, Kysele Pere et Fils, Winchester, VA; tel. (703) 888-7931, and those importers representing the selections of the Paris-based, American Burgundy specialist, Peter Vezan (Paris fax # 011 33 1 42554293)