1999

1999 Castagnier Guy Clos de la Roche

By on November 30, 2009 #asides

Medium-plus colour, still with some cherry-red in the mix. Deep, sweet beetroot, brown sugar and a dark red/black confiture fruit encasing a core of some minerality – the last drops in the glass show beautiful raised red fruits. Perfectly balanced acidity that keeps your mouth watering, yet the supporting sweetness ensures no sharpness. The finely-grained tannins are very-much fading into the background. Medium plus finish. A balanced and very pretty wine that is slowly adding some complexity and is very 99, but it’s not obviously grand cru – at least today – maybe more like a good 1er. That said, it was cheaper than many 1ers at the time of buying!

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1999 Thomas-Moillard Romanée Saint-Vivant

By on November 30, 2009 #asides

A smelly, rubbery odour from the cork, so it was decanted and I waited for an hour. Fortunately there was only a short-lived hint of rubber on the nose. The aroma-profile kept improving all night – though at a glacial pace – so I left a little for day two, but it was exactly like the end of day 1! What was it like? A meaty depth with subtle leafy notes – some parallels to the 98 Potel RSV, but this is significantly less far down the road to aromatic maturity. Across the tongue there is more padding and width than the Potel and no tartness. The rough tannin of the last outing (3 years ago) is replaced with a more velvet impression – good mid-palate width of dark cherry fruit too. Slowly lingering – it’s still not a ‘today’ wine, but at this rate of progress, another 5 years should see it in a great place.

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1999 Drouhin Joseph Côte de Nuits Villages

By on April 30, 2009 #asides

Medium colour. A deep nose of spice and cedar plus faint, sweet and maturing background fruit. Quite silky, a slightly unripe impression to the fruit, good acidity and largely diminished tannin. A pretty length until some finishing bitterness. Interesting parts and great value, but missing charm today.

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1999 Drouhin Joseph Vosne-Romanée

By on April 30, 2009 #asides

Some meaty depth on the nose, covered by a slightly alcoholic note. Lots of acidity, tannin that only shows itself in the mid-palate and certainly some dimension. This, today, needs either a little more density or ripeness to offset acidity that has a tart edge to it. Just a trace of bitterness in the finish.

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1999 Leroy Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Narbantons

By on April 30, 2009 #asides

The cork is soaked through with wine and splits in half while trying to extract. A medium, medium-plus young colour. The nose starts quite oaky, though slowly it fades to leave heavier and heavier young fruit notes. In the mouth it starts with grainy tannin and a little spritz but it’s followed by a lovely impression of damson/plum fruit and a super length. The fruit continues to blossom, becoming cleaner and fresher though this is clearly a Leroy wine rather than a wine of Savigny. Over time there’s a little mushroom and mineral on the nose, though a quick swirl reveals perfect berry notes.

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1999 Engel René Grands-Echézeaux

By on April 30, 2009 #asides

Medium-plus colour. The nose is about deep, macerated fruit – and even goes deeper with time in the glass. It’s very pretty indeed and all the while adds faint if not wild complexity. In the mouth the clear first impression is width, aided by faintly grainy tannin across the whole panorama. There is an understated presence and interesting complexity, though the finishing flavours are a tad simple despite their length. A good wine here, but today I shy away from ‘great’ as I didn’t find any real focus or ’spine’ to the wine making it come across as ill-defined/loose in the mid-palate. Give it time, but today I’d rather drink the 99 Leroy Narbantons.

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1999 Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin Combe aux Moines

By on April 30, 2009 #asides

I have to preface this note with the fact that the paint was worn from the end of the capsule, there were signs of seepage and the label was rather dirty – none of my other wines from storage have been in such condition. It’s a singleton, and hopefully (cosmetically at least) a one-off so maybe not representative. The colour is medium ruby-red. The nose starts with an impression of oak (despite Fourrier using very little), some sous-bois and a hint of brett – only the last drops in the glass show some very fine berry fruit. A forward personality in the mouth – good acidity and intensity without great weight. The flavours linger well, it’s smooth but the mid-palate is a little lumpy. My thoughts are mixed; this was certainly tasty, very tasty, but aromatically disappointing. If this bottle and that brett is representative, I’d be thinking of drinking a majority of bottles in the near future for their personality and keeping just a few back for longer term, I wouldn’t be buying more.

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1999 Bachelet Denis Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes

By on April 30, 2009 #asides

Medium, medium-plus ruby-red colour. A gorgeous nose; creamy red fruit of lovely depth, just a little brown sugar rounding it out – seems very much a Bachelet (barrel) signature rather than ‘Gevrey’ (the ‘96 Charmes is very similar) time adds a little darker cherry. The texture is silky, there’s penetrating acidity without it being over the top, the mouth-watering flavours have very good dimension and a sugared impression that mirrors the aromas. Like the nose, there’s a very slow development of darker cherry flavours. Never more than medium-bodied, this is a super-elegant bottle – a shame that I only bought 6, way back when – an outstanding villages…

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1999 Esmonin Frédéric Mazy-Chambertin

By on April 30, 2009 #asides

Medium-plus colour, still with some last vestige of cherry-red. Right from pouring, cold – say 12°-ish – the nose was just a gorgeously smooth interpretation of macerating dark cherry – wow! The palate, however, was tight, linear, hinting towards tannin but delivering only a dark, faintly oaky but very long finish. As the contents of the glass slowly warm the nose adds a little coffee though slightly tightens, the flavours are expanding though, and with them, the tannin seems to be diminishing. Eventually a herbal complexity fills out the aromas. The palate becomes more intense and builds a sweetness – not a ripe vintage, confiture type of sweetness, rather an intensity of sweetness at the back of the palate. A very young, but very rewarding performance – I really wish I’d bought more, not just this wine, but Mazy (Mazis) in general.

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