The Mazis-Chambertin Hospices de Beaune Cuvee Madeleine Collignon is a stunning wine. This selection from the Hospices is a great wine, but much more flattering, oaky, and evolved than the other Mazis. It is rich and concentrated, smooth, silky, and ideal for drinking through the nineties. The 1987s of Lalou Bize-Leroy are often just a notch below her phenomenal 1985s. They provide additional convincing evidence that the 1987 vintage is probably the most underrated Burgundy vintage (along with 1980) in the last 20 years.

Much has been written about the dynamic Madame Lalou Bize-Leroy. Some of it has been malicious and motivated strictly by insidious jealousy. From time to time I have complained of her pricing structure. Yet there should never be any criticism of her philosophy of what burgundy should be. Her wines are among the noblest and purest expressions of Pinot Noir in Burgundy. They are treated with the care of a pampered child, never filtered, and bottled barrel by barrel. Given the size of her wines and their power and structure, in a cool damp cellar they will last 20 to 25 years. Bize-Leroy thinks 1985 is one of the two best burgundy vintages in the last twenty years, the other being 1978. Given the range of wines I tasted, 44 in all, 16 were exceptional, 21 very good to excellent. Thirty-seven very good to exceptional wines out of 44 is an amazingly high percentage, and I would be proud to own any of them.