1999 Casa Lapostolle Merlot Cuvée Alexandre

The kirsch, cherry, and raspberry-scented 1999 Merlot Cuvee Alexandre has a bright, medium to dark ruby color. It is a well-extracted, concentrated, and intense wine packed with red and black fruit flavors intermingled with hints of cedar. Although loaded with tannin, it has the requisite density of fruit to cope. This is an outstanding Merlot produced under the watchful eye of this varietal's god, Michel Rolland. Anticipated maturity: 2003-2010. Readers who doubt the potential influence of a wine consultant who only spends a very short time each year visiting his/her clients should bear the following in mind. For this report, hundreds of Chilean wines were tasted, yet only a handful of estates stood out. Casa Lapostolle, where Bordeaux's famed oenologist Michel Rolland spends a couple of weeks a year, is one of the few islands of high quality in a sea of wine dominated by dilution, vapidness, and commercial blandness/mediocrity. Importer: Schieffelin & Somerset, New York, NY; tel. (212) 251-8337.