1995 Domaine Jean Grivot Richebourg Grand Cru

One of the finest Burgundies I tasted in June, the dark ruby-colored Richebourg offers a compelling, highly-complex nose of super-ripe cassis, plums and black cherries. Its awesomely concentrated and massively-endowed thick-textured personality is packed with chewy, fabulously extracted cherry flavors intermingled with Asian spices, cinnamon, and notes of underbrush. Gorgeously structured and incredibly long, it will be at its peak between 2004-2012+. The Domaine Jean Grivot is brilliantly run by Jean's son Etienne Grivot. As I mentioned in the introduction to my Cote de Nuits report (Issue #110), he is one of the young vignerons responsible for the higher quality of Burgundy's wines. His 1995s were among the best wines I tasted in the Cote d'Or, bringing together superb balance with thick, concentrated, elegant fruit. Importer: Chateaux and Estates Wine Co., New York, NY; Tel; (212) 572-7725.

Somewhat floral, still quite fresh fruit with medium weight, very tannic flavors and a long but also very tannic finish. This will clearly be capable of a long evolution but the tannins are so fierce at this point that it's not at all clear that the wine will ever harmonize as the tannic structure dominates the character of the wine from the mid-palate through the admirably long finish. Allen Meadows, Burghound, Oct19,2001.

One of the finest Burgundies I tasted in June, the dark ruby-colored Richebourg offers a compelling, highly-complex nose of super-ripe cassis, plums and black cherries. Its awesomely concentrated and massively-endowed thick-textured personality is packed with chewy, fabulously extracted cherry flavors intermingled with Asian spices, cinnamon, and notes of underbrush. Gorgeously structured and incredibly long, it will be at its peak between 2004-2012+. Pierre Rovani, The Wine Advocate Aug 1997