Allen Meadows' Burghound

As is typically the case, this is earthier and much more sauvage than the Bressandes though it retains good freshness and pinot noir character. The nose speaks primarily of plum and floral aromas that are in keeping with the sappy, rich, powerful and broad-shouldered flavors that drench the palate with dry extract on the very firmly structured and hugely long finish. This should be a great wine in time.

A very ripe liqueur of red pinot fruit, plum and violet-infused nose leads to rich, elegant and very pure big-bodied and well-muscled flavors that possess impressively detailed and ample minerality on the firm but not hard, long and impeccably well-balanced finish. This explodes on the finish and like the Jarolières, it possesses plenty of underlying tension that imparts a highly attractive sense of vibrancy and life.

An intensely floral and spicy nose that is wonderfully elegant and admirably pure speaks of red currant, blue berry, game, smoke and warm earth. The silky-textured, precise and mineral-inflected medium-bodied flavors possess copious extract that does a fine job of buffering the very firm tannins and allowing for perfect balance on the mouth coating and impressively persistent finish. A seductive and relatively accessible Clos des Lambrays that should be approachable with only a decade of cellar time yet last for 25 to 40 years.

I have been in love with this wine since I first encountered it in barrel and it seems only to have gotten better and better. An elegant, pure and refined nose of earth, coffee, spice and intensely perfumed black cherries combine with focused, tautly muscular, remarkably complex and precise full-bodied, sweet and palate staining flavors that seem to go on and on. But the quality that impresses me the most is the dazzling combination of finesse and power, all wrapped in a finish of near perfect harmony and balance.

It always amazes me how sometimes you can run across a wine multiple times over the years and sometimes it's as though there was next to nothing made in the first place. In this particular case, I last had the '93 Rousseau Ruchottes in 1996 and suffice it to say that it has changed greatly to now display full-on sous-bois, spice, leather, game and distinct sauvage hints. There is a lovely sense of underlying tension to the delicious, detail and mineral-driven middle weight flavors that deliver excellent length on the complex, balanced and still somewhat austere finale.

A ripe and wonderfully complex nose mixes mostly secondary aromas with hints of earth and leather soar from the glass. The gorgeously detailed, elegant and precise medium weight flavors are supported by still noticeable tannins that are completely buffered by abundant extract on the strikingly persistent finish. The acid/fruit balance is perfect and along with the '99, this is the finest Rousseau Clos St. Jacques of the decade.

A more elegant nose is comprised by more floral-suffused aromas of white fleshed fruit, citrus and subtle rosemary oil whiffs. Here too there is a really lovely texture to the medium-bodied flavors that coat the palate with sappy dry extract while buffering the citrus-tinged finale that offers noticeably better depth. This too is recommended.

This is even more floral-suffused with its nose of petrol, lemon rind and soft wood. The rich and quite generously proportioned middleweight flavors coat the palate with dry extract while exuding a more subtle bead of minerality on the balanced, lingering and citrus-tinged finish. Once again this is sufficiently forward to allow for good early drinkability yet should have no trouble repay a decade plus of keeping.

A more elegant nose is comprised by more floral-suffused aromas of white fleshed fruit, citrus and subtle rosemary oil whiffs. Here too there is a really lovely texture to the medium-bodied flavors that coat the palate with sappy dry extract while buffering the citrus-tinged finale that offers noticeably better depth. This too is recommended.

A fresh, cool and very pretty nose reveals only a hint of exotic character on the aromas of white peach, orange peel and anise. Once again the palate impression of the medium-bodied flavors is rich, generous and seductive but with more evident minerality that adds a sense of lift to the nicely dry bitter lemon-inflected finale.