1995 Richebourg

(FORMERLY KNOWN AS DOMAINE ANNE ET FRANCOIS GROS) Just as dark as the Clos Vougeot, but even more prodigiously concentrated, the Richebourg is among the blackest and inkiest (both in color and taste) Pinot Noirs I have tasted. Exhibiting sweet Asian spices and grilled black fruits on the nose, this behemoth is a rich, chewy, rugged, silky-textured wine packed with super-ripe, highly-concentrated ripe berries. Possessing impressive depth and structure, this wine may well deserve a higher rating when it has had time to soften out. Drink 2005-2015+. This note is the result of tastings I did in Burgundy between January 7 and January 29. The wine was tasted from cask, not bottle. Pinot Noir, a fragile varietal, reacts poorly to fining, filtration, and careless bottling techniques, I recommend caution when considering buying a red burgundy based on cask samples. I called it as I tasted it, and hope the bottled wine reflects the quality of the samples I was provided. Anne Gros has bought out her father Francois' interest in this estate and is making super-extracted, black, deeply layered, intense wines. Lightly filtered but not fined, she uses between 80-90% new oak on her two grand crus. I consider it impossible to produce an inkier wine from Pinot Noir than she did in 1995. Readers who search out Pinot Noir with refined notes of strawberries, raspberries and tangy cherries should be aware that these wines are the antithesis. A Peter Vezan Selection (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-42-65-42-93), importers include : North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel (510) 848-8910.