1993 Chambolle Musigny Les Charmes

The Domaine des Chezeaux offerings are all very fine wines, with excellent ripeness and chewy, fleshy styles (atypical for the 1993 vintage). The Chambolle-Musigny Les Charmes, Clos St.-Denis Vieilles Vignes, and Griotte-Chambertin possess extremely concentrated personalities, and plenty of sweet fruit in a medium to full-bodied format. They can be approached young, but promise to age well. Most of the wines of Domaine des Chezeaux are made by Laurent Ponsot under the French arrangement called metayage, which allows a grower/producer such as Ponsot to retain half of the wine from a rented vineyard in exchange for making and bottling the wine for the vineyard's owner, in this case, Domaine des Chezeaux. In theory, wines such as Domaine des Chezeaux's Chambertin, Griotte-Chambertin, and Chambolle-Musigny Les Charmes should be identical to the same wines of Ponsot, since they are all made and bottled by Ponsot, with half the wines receiving the Domaine des Chezeaux label and the other half the Domaine Ponsot label. The Clos St.-Denis is reputedly made elsewhere. Importer: Neal Rosenthal, Select Vineyards, Shekomeko, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990