1994 Musigny Vieilles Vignes- Comte De Vogue

This has to be one of the handful of top wines in 1994. De Vogue has been on quite a tear since 1988, and their performance in the "off" years has eclipsed that of the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. Only Leroy seems to routinely do this well in off vintages! The nose is classic Moose: red cherry, strawberry, coffee, mustard seed, tobacco, ginger, roses, smoke and toasty new oak. Deeper and much more complex than the 1992, the wine shows fine depth and richness on the mid-palate, a medium-full personality, modest tannins, and a long, complex finish. Still not as focused and nuanced as it will be with a couple of years' cellaring, this is a fine, fine effort from De Vogue. 2000-2012. 93+.

The Wine List:
1994 Musigny Vieilles Vignes- Comte De Vogue
1990 Cote-Rotie "La Pommiere"- Guigal (Magnum)
1983 Riesling Clos Ste. Hune VT- Trimbach
1988 Savigny "Narbantons"- Leroy
1985 Chateau Rayas
1986 Henri Bonneau Cuvee Clelestins
1985 Lynch Bages
1983 Haut Brion
1990 Charmes-Chambertin- Geantet-Pansiot
1929 Canon
1981 Certan de May
1991 Ruchottes-Chambertin- Christophe Roumier
1982 Clos Ste. Hune- Trimbach

1990 Cote-Rotie "La Pommiere"- Guigal (Magnum)

Initially planned as the fourth "Single Vineyard" Cote-Rotie from Guigal, La Pommiere never quite hit the heights that Marcel Guigal requires of his "La-La Wines", and Guigal never commercially released the wine as a single vineyard-designated wine. It was bottled separately in 1989 (never released) and in 1990 in magnum. Interestingly, Guigal sold it only in magnum, and with his standard Cote-Rotie "Brune et Blonde" label. Other than the fact that is was in magnum (large formats are eschewed by Guigal), there was no hint that it was something other than his regular Cote-Rotie. Beginning with the 1995 vintage, La Pommiere will become one of the constituent components of Guigal's new "Chateau d'Ampuis" reserve bottling of Cote-Rotie. The 1990 La Pommiere has begun to hit its plateau of maturity, with the tannins starting to fade, and the wine's secondary and tertiary aromas and flavors coming to the fore. The nose is spectacular, with scents of sweet, roasted cassis, violets, bacon fat, coffee, hazelnuts, ground pepper, coffee, and toasty new oak exploding from the glass. Medium-full (remember 1990 is nowhere near the blockbuster year for Cote-Rotie that it is for Hermitage) and silky on the palate, with tremendous complexity, precise balance, and a long, opulent, lush finish. The 1990 La Pommiere clearly has another decade of life ahead of it, but it is not a criminal act to drink it now! 1997-2010. 93.

1983 Riesling Clos Ste. Hune VT- Trimbach

I love this vineyard. I have had more forward, opulent examples of this stunning wine over the last couple of years. This particular bottle was just shipped from the Trimbach's cellars, and it is fresh, tight, and youthful. Oh yes, did I mention spectacular! Is there a more complex white wine nose than Clos Ste. Hune? Every time I read my tasting notes of this wine, I think of how damnably inadequate language can be on certain occasions. The purity and nuance of fruit tones in this wine defy accurate description. They're all in there! Perhaps I get notes of lemon, lime, apple, tangerine, gooseberry and papaya. Also along for the ride are scents of cut grass, petrol, salty/chalky soil and spring flowers. Okay, once again it tastes of bottled, dappled June sunshine...ridiculous. At 9:30 A.M. Good lord...but it does. Anyway, the wine is a big, full, focused thoroughbred, with perfect focus and plenty of acidity. The finish is huge in scale, yet so harmonious that it leaves one left with an impression of lightness and grace when it gets around to finishing a few minutes later. Would that I had the patience of the taster next to me who kept this wine around in the glass for a couple of hours to really witness its unfolding. Sheer magic. From now on I vow to only drink Clos Ste. Hune as white wine at dinners where Henri Jayer will be served. Since 1919, this has been Alsace's single greatest wine. 2000-2025. 96+.

1994 Meursault Charmes "Vieilles Vignes"- Verget

I had ranked Verget up near the top of white Burgundy producers before these three wines, but never quite up there with the likes of Dominique Lafon and Jean-Marie Coche. However, it is time to re-evaluate! Compared to the early showings of VergetÅs top 1992s, this wine is a notable step up in terms of freshness and lightness of step. And yet, it is even more concentrated than VergetÅs top ‘92 Premier Crus! Quintessential Meursault on the nose: buttered apples, lemon, hazelnuts, loads of minerals, spring flowers, and a whiff of new vanillin oak in the top register. Deep, rich, and very snappy on the palate, with a great core of fruit, zesty acidity, flawless structure and focus, and a huge, mouthful of fruit on the finish. This is absolutely delicious to drink now, but it has all the constituent components to age gracefully for five to seven more years. This is show-stopping stuff! 1996-2004. 95.

1988 Savigny "Narbantons"- Leroy

Every time I get a little (mind you, a little) disillusioned whit Madame Leroy, another one of her wines comes back to nip at my heels. Clearly, her winemaking has moved to a higher level with her Domaine Leroy bottlings. I had the 1976 Savigny "Narbantons" and found it mediocre at best. After tasting the 1988, I cannot believe that they came from the same parcel. The 1988 is super stuff, but still a little while away from really opening up and hitting its apogee. The nose is fabulous: classic Savigny aromas of red cherry, quince, coffee, venison, vinesmoke and herbs, coupled with scents of rose petals, plums, and sweet vanillin oak. This wine has been given the same loving care as her Richebourg! Full-bodied, flawlessly focused, and just packed with sweet fruit at the core. Right now this fruit is like the sun behind the clouds, but the breeze is blowing, and that fruit will be beaming down from on high in another eighteen months or so. Right now, the fabulous terroir takes center stage, and no one at the table is complaining! Ripe, modest tannins and bouncy acidity carry through on the long finish. This is very, very special Savigny, as well as another convincing example of how great this vintage is going to be in another few years. Patience...2000-2015. 94.

1985 Chateau Rayas

To be fair to this wine, it may not have had enough time in the decanter to really hit on all cylinders. We decanted it for a good forty-five minutes, but the wine never really showed great focus or structure. Would a couple of more hours decanting or a couple of years more bottle age have delivered a more shapely example? In any event, the fruit is sweet and jammy, with scents of black raspberry, mincemeat, red currants, coffee, pepper, woodsmoke, herbs, earth, and spicy wood on the nose. Big, fat, and packed with fruit on the palate, but with the jammy quality of the nose carrying through in the mouth. A bit chunky and four square on this evening, and nowhere near as fine as I expected from early tastings in its youth. Could just be an awkward stage. Could just be an awkward wine. But rich, sweet, and powerful nonetheless. 2000-2020. 90-94 (depending on future shape).

1986 Henri Bonneau Cuvee Clelestins

This was served "double blind" by the host, and it was a tough nut to crack. The superripe, late harvest quality of the fruit came off as Amarone-like at first, though the strong personality of Grenache came through with air. Scents of raspberry, plum, tomato, coffee, raisins, pepper, hung meats, herbs, hot stones, and cedary wood soared from the glass with time. Huge, powerful, and hefty with alcohol on the palate, without any undo heat, but with a strong, almost Port-like sense of high octane juice. Chewy tannins are already starting to subside on the finish, as this wine nears its plateau of maturity. A very, very impressive wine that I could learn to really, really like, but what on earth does one serve with it? A great wine for tastings. 2000-2020. 93+.

1985 Lynch Bages

I have a pretty high tolerance for Brettanomyces, but this particular bottle of '95 Lynch stunk to high heaven. I was rather shocked, since I had quaffed a case at a woefully early age and always found it to be a very suave, polished, extremely successful Lynch. For a long time I had a strong preference for the '85 to the '82 Lynch. But today, the '82 seems quite stylish and elegant, and this bottle of '85 is one coarse customer. perhaps it is just a stage of cranky adolescence. The nose is barnyardy: cassis, game, tobacco, herbal tones and toasty new oak vie with the yard for the upper hand. Big, chunky, and pretty dull on the palate today...this has got to be a stage...with chewy tannins and a reasonably long finish. I expected to like this better. I would bury it in the cellar for another five years and hope it regains some of its bloom of youth. 2002-2035. 86-91.

1983 Haut Brionn

I have had more forward bottles of this wine recently. However, as opposed to the 1985 Lynch Bages, a little backwardness here was certainly not unwelcome. My good friend Sasha sitting next to me commented that the amazing thing about Haut Brion is that the wine is so well balanced and so elegant that one often misses out on how big and powerful the wine is. This was served along side the 1985 Lynch Bages, and it was not only the better wine, it was also the bigger wine! This is a very underrated Haut Brion (for that matter, most HB's are underrated!), with a blossoming classic bouquet of cassis, roasted tobacco, black truffle, herbs, chocolate, hot bricks, and toasty oak. This bottle was still emerging from its "dumb" stage, and should really start flying the flag in another four to five years. It is a lovely, complex, full-bodied Haut Brion that should delight the senses between 2003-2040. 93.

1990 Charmes-Chambertin- Geantet-Pansiot

A superb effort from this up and coming star in Gevrey-Chambertin. I had this wine a couple of times when it was available on the market, and never caught a really fine showing. One bottle was corked; another was rather disjointed from recent shipping of bottling and seemed full-bodied, but kind of simple and grapey. Well, it does not show that way anymore. This is an extremely elegant, polished, and perfumed Gevrey Grand Cru (many of us guessed Latricieres-Chambertin or Chapelle-Chambertin, two of the most finesseful Grand Crus in Gevrey), with a gorgeous bouquet of black cherry, plum, violets, hints of smoked meats, herbs, chocolate and vanillin oak. Full-bodied, round and seamless on the palate, with layers of silky, thick 1990 fruit, fine tannins, and a long, complex finish. I am kicking myself for not having put some of this wine in the cellar (I had ample opportunity). A lovely drink, albeit, one of the most forward of 1990's Grand Crus. 1997-2010. 92+.

1929 Canon

Wines like this continue to demonstrate how much more there is to know about wine. Here is a Bordeaux nearing its 70th birthday, bounced around on the George Washington Bridge, and decanted after settling in from the road for a solid fifteen minutes. Yes, it was a little muddied. On first whiff, a serious note of oxidation, but also sweet red fruit, tobacco, truffles, herbs, coffee and cedar. Lightish in body, and yet the palate retained plenty of intensity and a surprisingly solid core of fruit. I thought for sure that the wine was going to evolve very quickly, and drank my glass up (thoroughly enjoying it) in the first six or seven minutes. Forty-five minutes later, it was still going strong, and had even improved. Much of the initial notes of oxidation had been subsumed in the fruit that continued to churn up from the center of this venerable old wine during its time in the glass. Michael Broadbent will often allude to old wines behaving this way, and yet I had to see it to believe it. I will now approach wines such as this (I recant my heresy, can I please have another glass...) with a bit more faith in their sturdiness. Lovely stuff. Drink up. 88.

1981 Certan de May

I love Bordeaux at its apogee. I have had a long running fling with 1981 La Conseillante (a beauty that is now starting to ever so slightly fade), and am even more impressed with 1981 Certan de May. This wine is super stuff: sweet, round, deep, and velvety on the palate, with a solid core of fruit, excellent balance and focus, soft tannins, and a long, stylish finish. The nose is stunning Pomerol: sweet, tangy raspberry fruit, tobacco, chocolate, herbs, hints of spiced meats, minerals, and toasty new oak. Medium-full, suave and voluptuous on the palate, the 1981 Certan de May has just reached its zenith, where it promises to cruise along blithely for the next six to eight years. Wonderful stuff. I wonder how 1981 Petrus is showing? Hey Roger...over here...1997-2005. 92.

1991 Ruchottes-Chambertin- Christophe Roumier

Roumier's Ruchottes-Chambertin is very seldom seen in the United States. It appears under the Christophe Roumier label (as opposed to Domaine Georges Roumier), and is the product of a metayage agreement that Christophe has with a businessman who owns the parcel. Because there is so little Chambolle-Musigny "Les Amoureses", Bonnes-Mares and Musigny for thirsty clients in Europe, Roumier reserves the Ruchottes (and also a Charmes-Chambertin that is also sharecropped) for sale to private clients. I remember Christophe Roumier inadvertently opening this bottle after he tasted a colleague and myself on the wines from the 1993 vintage out of barrel. He apologized (was he going to open something better?), and we tasted it anyway. This was in March of 1995, and the wine was stunning. Twenty months later, it is even better. This has to be one of the superstars of the vintage. Stylistically, it has much more in common with 1990 than 1991! The nose is majestic, with "old-viney" scents of plums and black cherries, smoked meats, French roast, chocolate, herb tones, minerals, and vanillin oak. Full-bodied and still a couple of years away on the palate, with a stunning core of creamy fruit, fine acidity and focus, and some moderate tannins perking up on the finish. While this is profound juice right now, it will be even better for another eighteen months or so in the cellar. When in Europe, keep your eyes peeled for any vintages of this wine! 1998-2015. 94+.

1982 Clos Ste. Hune- Trimbach

This is the finest Clos Ste. Hune from the 1980s for current drinking. Not a great vintage, just a great wine. Totally mature, but with enough acidity to keep it rolling for another two or three years. The nose is delightful, with scents of petrol, lemon, honey, pomegranate, salty, chalky soil tones, tangerine, and floral topnotes. With air, this wine got better and better. Medium-full and quite resolved on the palate, with a fine core of fruit, excellent balance, and a long, complex finish. The consistent quality of this wine, year in and year out, is extraordinary. 1887-2000. 90.