1996 Château de Puligny-Montrachet de Montille Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru

The Chateau de Puligny-Montrachet's Chevalier-Montrachet displays tantalizing and spicy marzipan aromatics, and a super-ripe, broad, concentrated, complex, buttery, leesy, and full-bodied personality. This gorgeously-focused, precise, and persistent wine has the intricacy and purity of an outstanding wine, but not enough intensity and power for greatness. Anticipated maturity: 2002-2007. The rating, with the range of scores in parentheses, indicates the wine was tasted from cask, not bottle. Jacques Montagnon, the Chateau de Puligny-Montrachet's young, dedicated, bright, and dynamic winemaker is leading this estate into the top echelon of Puligny's domaines. The Chateau's yields averaged 40 hectoliters/hectare while many of Montagnon's more esteemed, and more expensive, neighbors harvested 40% more. Not one to mince words, Montagnon described the 30% increase in permissible yields Puligny's vignerons obtained from the INAO to be a "total aberration and heresy." Robert Kacher, this estate's US importer, is given the permission to select the barrels he would like, as are other nations' importers. In 1996 Kacher's "cuvees" have been subjected to a longer elevage than England's and the rest of Europe's. For the Chevalier-Montrachet, Kacher's selection of barrels tended to be slightly more oaky and less minerally than others. These notes reflect the wines that will be shipped to the US. Montagnon's 1996's have the ripe, rich, and lively qualities I associate with this outstanding vintage, yet seem to have avoided its potential pitfalls, namely hollowness from high yields and teeth-clenching acidity. Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC; tel (202) 832-9083.