I shouldn’t really be drinking this wine.

Although it’s produced from young vines (less than 25 years-old), those vines are located in Musigny, so 9 years is far to little time to allow for optimum development. I’ve previously drunk this wine 3 times; first time not so great, second time a super and fresh bottle (direct from the domaine) and then another disappointing bottle a little after. Both ‘not very impressive’ bottles came from the same merchant – as did this third bottle. Another note I saw this week was also negative – so I decided to pop the cork – it will either be a disappointment (as weight of evidence suggests) or a pleasant surprise. It turned out to be somewhere in between…
1997 Comte Georges de Vogüé, Chambolle-Musigny 1er
Medium-plus ruby-red colour – right to the rim. The nose starts dense, very tight and quite deep. Time reduces the depth and gives this a wider and redder complexion, though more patience – about 2 hours from opening – and it’s has a coffee aspect coming through and certainly a finer aspect. The palate is also rather dense, quite fat and very well textured, it’s also very, very long, but that length is heavily oak-driven, slightly bitter and not so nice. Two hours in the glass does nothing to improve the finish, nor impart some complexity. My summary (so far) is drunk too young and currently showing too much oak on the finish. I will leave the other half of the bottle for tomorrow to see if it’s nicer then.

So far, much more like my previous (merchant purchased) bottles that the domaine-direct version.

Day 2 and thankfully the bitterness of the finish is almost a memory. The wine has held together very well – still very dense and primary – the only negative with the wait is a bit of a beefy, herbal whiff, though the last drops smell terrific. So, definitely too young and a long, long way from drinking. From a stylistic perspective I still don’t think I would rebuy…
Rebuy – No

The discussion of this wine that precipitated the opening of this bottle can be found here.