1992 Chevalier Montrachet

Full copper-yellow color. Exotic, musky aromas of ripe apricot, brown spices, hazelnut and frangipane; not a particularly mineral style. Thick verging on heavy on entry but pulled back from the brink by terrific spicy acidity. This wine is fully mature but should go on for another decade owing to its remarkable solidity and piquant notes of crystallized lemon peel and orange zest. Really serious opulence and palate presence here, that much more impressive considering that the yield was a healthy 40 to 45 hectoliters per hectare. Finishes with incredible, slowly building length and an intriguing balsamic note; it's hard to scrape this powerfully structured wine off the palate. (14.2% alcohol; 3.08 pH; September 7 harvest; made from golden raisins picked without botrytis, according to Morandière)

Another of this tasting's highlights was the 1992 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru, an exotically aromatic vintage of this great wine that bursts from the glass with scents of fresh peaches, vine and citrus blossom, pear, mandarin oil and frangipane. It's full-bodied, broad and satiny, with an ample and envelopingly textural profile that displays considerable mid-palate volume, impressive depth and concentration and a long, precise finish. Produced from fully ripe, golden-hued grapes, the 1992's aromas could easily give the impression that the wine saw a little botrytis, yet I'm assured that this wasn't the case. By the numbers, it attained a pH of 3.08 and 14% alcohol—making it both lower in alcohol and lower in pH than both the 1990 and 1989—yet given this Chevalier's exotic character and extravagantly expressive style, the inverse could easily be imagined.

Now in the autumn of its life, Leflaive’s 1992 Chevalier-Montrachet is absolutely gorgeous. Orange peel, apricot jam, butter, wild flowers, mint and honey form a captivating fabric of aromas, flavors and sensations that unfold effortlessly as the wine sits in the glass. The Chevalier captures all of the flamboyant ripeness and exoticism of this legendary white Burgundy vintage as tempered the slow passage of time. Unctuous and sweet, but never heavy, this contemplative, open-knit Burgundy is peaking today. The 1992 Chevalier doesn’t have much upside left, and it may hold on for a number of years, but I wouldn’t push my luck.