Revealing a black color with bright purple tints, this wine has a brooding nose of jammy blackberries and stones. This thick (almost syrupy), massively powerful, muscular, and backward wine is even bigger, denser, and more concentrated than the Bonnes Mares. Layers of black cherries, cassis, minerals, iron shavings, and plums can be found in this blockbuster's superbly-focused and extraordinarily delicious personality. Its prodigiously long and persistent finish makes the previous wine's almost seem short! Projected maturity: 2006-2020. Bravo! Lalou Bize-Leroy bottled her Domaine d'Auvenay 1996s before harvesting the 1997s because "they were so good, I did not think they could get better". She compared them to the 1959s saying they had the same richness, fruit, and body at this stage of their evolution. Not having been born yet, I did not taste the '59s young but have been fortunate enough to drink a number of them in recent years. If Mme. Bize-Leroy is correct, and the 1996s evolve along the same lines, they will be mind-boggling in forty years. Importer: Martine's Wines, San Raphael, CA; tel (415) 485-1800.

Thick, ripe and deceptively seductive, this beautiful wine mingles deftly made oak accents with wet earth, clean black fruit and mineral-laden character. Full-bodied, it's impressive for its balance, silky tannins and long finish.??–PM??Region: France / Burgundy / Mazis-Chambertin Select to Add