1996 Chassagne Montrachet Grandes Ruchottes

Exhibiting floral and red berry aromas, the Chassagne-Montrachet Les Grandes Ruchottes is a wide, dense, mouth-coating, medium-to-full-bodied, and thickly textured offering. Seductive flavors of poached pears, perfume, tangy peaches, stones, and minerals can all be found in this well-made, exciting, and delicious wine. Projected maturity: 2000-2006. The score, noted on a range and in parentheses, indicates that the wine was tasted from barrel. Unlike many of the wines represented by Patrick Lesec, there are no separate "Patrick Lesec Selection" cuvees at this estate. Also, I was unable to taste this estate's 1996 Bienvenue-Batard-Montrachet, often one of its better wines. Surprisingly, Alain Bonnefoy who was moving towards non-interventionist winemaking a year ago, decided that he would subject his 1996s to fining and filtering. The purity of this vintage's wines would leads me to ponder about why such "corrective" or "purifying" measures would be necessary. This being said, the 1996s are the finest wines I have tasted from Domaine Bachelet-Ramonet. There is a richness and density of fruit in these offerings that I have not previously experienced from this estate. If Bonnefoy continues to progress in his winemaking as he has over the last two or three years, Chassagne's small group of stars will have to make room for another member. A Patrick Lesec Selection (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-44-70-62-93), various American importers.