1997 Domaine Comte Armand Pommard Clos des Epeneaux 1er Cru

A Becky Wasserman Selection / Le Serbet; French Fax: 011-33-3-80-24-29-70, various American importers.

From younger vines (12 to 28 years old): Good full ruby color. Black cherry, dark berries, licorice and mint on the nose. Pungent, bright flavors of licorice and leather. Finishing flavors of espresso and chocolate. Dense tannins. From 32- to 48-year-old vines: Saturated ruby. Higher pitched aroma of berries, bitter cherry and oak spice. More minerally in the mouth, with a stronger spine of tannin and less evidence of torrefaction. Fresh and firm. Not at all in the softer style of the vintage. From the estate's oldest vines (up to 67 years of age), cropped at barely 28 hectoliters per hectare: Good full ruby color. Perfumed, sappy aromas of blackberry, mint and oak spice. Lively and sharply delineated; sweetened by notes of mocha and smoky oak. Tannins are firm but fine, and less aggressive than those of the last sample. An approximation of the final blend: Deep ruby. Complex bitter cherry and dark chocolate aromas. Rich, dense and sweet, with lovely ripe, chocolatey fruit. Thick, generous and very long on the aftertaste, with impressively even tannins and no sign of dryness. The whole seems greater than the sum of the parts here. Impressive potential.