1999 Chambolle Musigny Combe d'Orveaux

Medium red. Very sexy, ripe, soil-driven aromas of plum and redcurrant. Plush and sweet on the palate, with its fully ripe red fruit flavors complicated by spices, dried flowers and underbrush. This very full wine conveys an impression of sucrosité but finishes with lovely saline mineral energy, firm tannins and noteworthy stony grip, not to mention terrific length. Bruno Clavelier described 1999 as a generous vintage but noted that this wine was quite tight at the beginning of its élevage . Today, he added, it's a "great communicator," but he urged giving it three or four hours in a decanter before serving it.