1995 Chassagne Montrachet Grandes Ruchottes

Revealing a slight off-putting stinkiness in the nose which should blow off before bottling, the Chassagne Montrachet Les Grandes Ruchottes has delicious floral and minerally flavors coupled with good structure. This medium-bodied wine should be drunk between 1999-2003. This note is the result of tastings I did in Burgundy between January 7 and January 29. Ratings with a range of scores in parentheses indicate the wine was tasted from cask, not bottle. Alain Bonnefoy, the winemaker at Domaine Bachelet-Ramonet, has recently committed himself to bottling his '95s without filtration. As my scores indicate, some of the wines fall just short of being outstanding. There is reason to believe, however, that I may be extolling the virtues of these wines in the near future. Why? The domaine is working closely with Patrick Lesec, a Paris-based wine broker who prods those estates he represents to adopt non-interventionist winemaking, lower yields, and later harvests. A Patrick Lesec Selection (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-42843822), various American importers.