1996 Le Montrachet Marquis de Laguiche

I drank a bottle of 1996 Joseph Drouhin Montrachet Marquis de Laguiche in Macau at the restaurant Don Alfonso 1890 at the Lisboa Hotel. It showed wonderful aromas of cream, light toffee, dried lemons, and apple crumble. It was very similar at first on the palate but then opened to a full body of lemon meringue and fresh citrus fruit character. It was so lively and intense. Racy and flavorful, it was a wonderful texture and length. Drink now.

As is always the case with this negociant house, the Montrachet Marquis De Laguiche is given a longer elevage than any of the other white wines. The 1996 promises to be a stunner! Massively rich but precisely defined minerals, grilled hazelnuts, and toast engulf the nose. The impressive aromatics are followed by an awesomely complex, wide, broad-shouldered, tart, tightly-wound style of wine. As its minerals, toasted almonds, and notes of tropical fruits saturate the palate, they appear to grow in power and focus with each passing second. Intense, super-concentrated, highly-extracted, yet pure and steely, this Montrachet demands patience. I recommend holding it at least until 2005, and it should certainly evolve magnificently through 2015 given proper cellaring conditions. The rating, with the range of scores in parentheses, indicates the wine was tasted from cask, not bottle. All of Drouhin's whites, with the sole exception of the Montrachet, were bottled between early September and the end of October, 1997. Importer: Dreyfus Ashby, New York, NY; tel (212) 818-0770.