1995 Domaine Lucien Boillot et Fils Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Pruliers 1er Cru

My favorite Boillot offering is the fabulous Nuits-St.-Georges Les Pruliers. A spectacularly intense nose of deep, sweet, spicy fruit, minerals and earth gives way to an equally impressive palate impression that exploded with stones, iron, toast and massive quantities of red berries. Full-bodied, thick, and dense, this powerful, deeply flavorful wine will require 7-8 years of cellaring before attaining its full maturity. It will then easily last 9+ years. I was surprised by the uniformity of flavors and personality of the 1995 offerings: They all shared a black color, exhibiting dark, robust fruit flavors and hard tannic finishes. Stylistically they are reminiscent of Philippe Leclerc's wines, but without as much oak and depth of fruit. For most Burgundian domaines 1995 is a wonderful year for noting terroir differences, yet Boillot's wines share similar flavor profiles, often submerging as well as masking the wine's terroir nuances. As my ratings suggest, I did not factor this characteristic into my judgement on the wine's quality. 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. Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524.