Two more weekend wines that offer very high quality at their respective levels:
1996 Maison Leroy, Bourgogne Rouge
Limpid, medium, medium pale ruby red – looks lovely in the glass. The nose is restrained yet finely transparent with clean strawberry, raspberry and cherry impressions. In the mouth it’s a delightful combination of lightness yet intensity, transparency and freshness. Frankly this wine excels, drinking very well now despite still being far from mature. Filigree burgundy that’s more about impression than weight.
Rebuy – Yes
1999 Ghislaine Barthod, Bourgogne Rouge
A little deeper, medium ruby-red versus the Leroy, with a nose that is denser but at the same time less pretty – darker fruit that today is less sucessfully delineated. In the mouth there is also a little more density and certainly an extra dimension of flavour in the mid-palate. There is more ‘material’ in the glass and more secondary development than the Leroy, this wine had a significant advantage in purchase price too – it’s a really good regional wine – yet I would certainly go for the Leroy in preference today.
Rebuy – Yes