1999 Domaine Joseph Roty Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru

($173) Bright medium ruby. Very subtle, perfumed nose of black cherry, rose petal and minerals; quite primary, even a bit medicinal today. A wine of superb flavor precision and finesse; refined and highly perfumed, with a restrained sweetness and great class. Very long finish features fine, sweet tannins.

Author: Stephen Tanzer

Issue: March/April 2002

The sublime, dark ruby-colored 1999 Griotte-Chambertin was aged in 80-90% new oak. Its black cherry and blackberry-scented nose leads to a full-bodied personality that has magnificent breadth and concentration. This powerful wine coats the palate with layers of jammy blackberries, cassis liqueur, licorice, and smoked bacon.

Author: Pierre Rovani

Massive aromas of sweet sappy red and black pinot fruit and soil inflected flavors that are still finer than the Charmes and offer a fascinating array of spices. This comes across as pure extract of pinot with a finish that I could remember that next day. There is superb balance to go with all this raw firepower and the '99 Griotte is so big that it approaches the power of the Charmes with even slightly better precision. This may one day be as good as the unbelievable '93, which as fans of the Domaine know is extremely high praise indeed.

Issue: 1st Quarter, 2002