Hmm wide a hint of sous bois bit more flowers. Lovely depth. Hmm a direct wine, a sleek wine, fine textured, long, layered finishing – hyper elegant corton, delicious too, and not lacking any depth. A super 88 vs those of my memory…
1988
1988 Gros Anne Richebourg
1988 Taupenot-Merme Charmes-Chambertin
1988 Bouchard Père et Fils Le Corton
Hmm I had this two years ago – but at Bouchard. This also starts with quite leafy aromas of undergrowth. Much narrower, this ripples its muscles right from the outset, never really softening up – I only had it in my glass for 30 minutes. The core is of sweet, dark red fruit. Overall mineral and long, but probably drunk 20 years too soon
1988 Bouchard Père et Fils Le Corton
Deeply coloured at the core. Wide and savoury aromatics that give the impression that you are about to meet a tannic beast. Actually the tannin only comes through quite late as you get to the finish – before that it’s silky-smooth. Eventually red berries start to appear on the nose. Black-edged fruit is the main palate component. Long but faintly so. Certainly more youthful than you would expect at 20 years, I would say that it needs about 5 more years in a standard cellar to start to enter its maturity phase.
1988 Maume Mazis-Chambertin
On opening, the cork and head-space was a 10 out of 10 textbook example of ‘corked’, so much so that it wasn’t poured until later, when surprise, surprise: Medium ruby. The nose is a mineral but with a savoury depth. More mineral than any of the other wines with an interesting width and still plenty of tannin. The creamy finish lingers well, though stylistically very different to the other bottles. Vintage or cork makes the difference? – I detected no cork…
1988 Rousseau Armand Charmes-Chambertin
1988 Faiveley Joseph Corton Clos des Cortons Faiveley
1988 Remoissenet Père et Fils Montrachet
Medium golden colour. Very high toned and somewhat volatile, estery notes dwarfing a ripe, deeper and interesting core. Initially disappointing in context, but this wine improves leaps and bounds as the volatile edge leaves the scene. Wide, panoramic palate with an extra burst on the mid-palate. Long and very interesting. I don’t think the valatility will aid longevity, but the show’s pretty good today.