Having been quite impressed with my recent Petits Monts I thought I might test another of my 1999 problem children 😉

With such easy availability back in 2001/2002 – at least where I lived – I bought quite a bit from chez Mugnier in those years. Musigny was also no problem way back when – I may open a 1998 at Christmas-time… But I digress!

I bought half a dozen bottles and 12-pack of half bottles of this 1999. The bottles were delicious, if structural, when young. The longer they were kept, the less attractive they became. For whatever reason, all of my 75cls were drunk a long time ago but fewer of the 37.5s – so let’s look at one of those:

1999 JF Mugnier, Chambolle-Musigny
Half-bottle. The cork takes plenty of effort to budge – but surprises me by coming out in one piece – bravo! And this quercus-suber bark smells quite sweet.
The colour is modest for this vintage – only a medium red and with a faint haze too – perhaps I hadn’t been gentle enough with the bottle! The nose has some encouraging signs but it’s a note of brett that grows more quickly and takes over the centre stage: a beefy, bretty impression that I might say comes with the territory if the wine was another 15-20 years older – but not today. In the mouth, the stark austerity of this wine’s early teens is much less overt – it’s clearly better – but there’s still a slightly hard minerality to the middle and finishing flavours, though here the flavours are clean and I don’t note any meaty bretty influence. There’s also almost enough sweetness to carry the wine. Actually, the fluidity, intensity and texture are big positives with this wine but to be honest, at this age, I’m still pleased that it’s only a half-bottle – as there’s less for me to drink! This remains one of my least successful 1999 purchases – except for those first 3 bottles, 20 years ago…
Rebuy – No