The medium-to-dark ruby-colored Beaune Les Vignes Franches aromatically displays loads of sweet red and black cherries. On the palate, this medium-bodied, velvety-textured wine is super-ripe, expansive, expressive, and densely packed with candied red fruits and traces of minerals. It should be at its peak between 1999 and 2003. Vincent Girardin's 1996s are generally fresher and more supple than his 1995s, but are not as concentrated or structured. Since he personally prefers softer styled wines, Girardin prefers the 1996 vintage. My feeling is that many of his 1995s will develop better over time than these delicious mid-term drinking wine. Importer: as well as for the Maranges Clos Roussot and Pommard Vignots (I tasted neither),European Cellars (Eric Solomon, tel 212-924-4949), under the Baron de la Charriere label.

The ruby-colored Beaune Clos Des Vignes Franches offers cinnamon, gingerbread and raspberry aromas as well as a silky-textured, medium-to-full-bodied, well-delineated character filled with cherries, strawberries and traces of cookie dough. The marvelous flavors of this wine reminded me of a multi-red fruit cobbler sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar I used to eat at a diner in Nashville. Anticipated maturity: 1998-2004. I was absolutely blown away by the quality of Vincent Girardin's red Cote de Beaunes at my April tasting in Washington. Whereas there is always an element of doubt concerning the end product when tasting out of barrel, what I saw from Girardin was already bottled and in retail stores throughout the US (all of them were tasted with the American importer and many were later re-tasted blind with other 95 Burgundies). These are superlative red burgundies with a superb rapport in quality and price. This estate's wines exhibit superb ripeness, outstanding balance, beautiful purity of fruit, extraordinarily well-integrated oak and tannin. In the top cuvees there is unsurpassed length. I know of no other producer/negociant in Burgundy that can deliver as broad a range of outstanding wines at such reasonable prices. Furthermore, Girardin, like Bernard Dugat in Gevrey-Chambertin, has worked hard to improve the quality of his wines. To top it all off, we can look forward to many more years of sublime wines from this estate/negociant as Girardin and his wife, Veronique, are quite young. If you love Burgundian reds, run, don't walk, to your wine merchant and purchase these dazzling wines. Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel (205) 980-8802.

The four top red wines from Vincent Girardin include the Chassagne-Montrachet Clos de la Boudriotte Vieilles Vignes, Beaune Clos Les Vignes Franches, Volnay Les Santenots, and Pommard Les Chanlins Vieilles Vignes. All of these wines can be drunk now, but they promise to age for another 7-8 years. The 1994 Beaune Clos Les Vignes Franches reveals copious amounts of sweet, ripe fruit, medium to full body, excellent density, a chewy texture, and a spicy, long, heady, alcoholic finish. It is a wine of undeniable charm, yet it is capable of lasting another 7-8 years. Burgundy is frightfully expensive, and often disappointing, not only on a qualitative level, but in terms of the price/quality relationship. How rare it is to taste a group of Burgundies and find them to be delicious, satisfying, and, for Burgundy, reasonably priced. Vincent Girardin appears to be making the finest wines of his career, turning out full blown, smoky, oaky whites, and gorgeously seductive, round, generous red wines that are modestly priced, especially when one considers the prices now fetched by the top single vineyard/reserve Pinot Noirs from California and Oregon. I was very impressed with not only Girardin's 1994 whites, but also his 1994 reds, the first vintage he has bottled without any fining or filtration - an important factor as the style of the 1994 vintage (elegance and lightness) strongly suggests such wines cannot endure much SO2, or aroma and flavor eviscerating fining and filtration. Vineyard Brands, Inc., Chester, VT; tel. (802) 875-2139; fax (802) 875-3566