1999 Domaine Claude Dugat Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru

The tangy cherry, Asian spice, and hoisin sauce-scented 1999 Griotte-Chambertin is medium to dark ruby-colored. This silky-textured beauty is loaded with creamed cherries, blackberry syrup, spices, and vanilla. It is fresh, focused, sexy, yet well-structured. Its immensely appealing fruit flavors last throughout its exceptional finish. Drink it between 2005 and 2012. To Claude Dugat, 1999 is "between very good and great". Yields, as always, were not an issue, as they ranged from a high of 33 hectoliters per hectare for the Gevrey Chambertin to between 22 and 25 hectoliters per hectare for the Griotte-Chambertin. Dugat works the vines that his grandfather, a noted horticulturist, had selected for their small bunches and berries, as well as for their concentrated juice. "My work in the vineyard is really to maintain the vines at 10-12 tiny clusters, and to make sure they are working hard for their food. I don't like to say that I make my vines suffer, because I love them. I prefer to say that I make them work hard for me. The only food I provide is a little manure from organically raised cattle when the vines' leaves show they need it, which is generally every four years," he said. As I was touring Burgundy tasting through the 1999s, most vignerons appeared pessimistic about the 2000s. The modest Claude Dugat, however, at the end of our tasting said he wasn't "too unhappy" about the 2000s. "All it took to make good wines was some work in the vineyard." Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 832-9083.