2000 Domaine des Comtés Lafon Montrachet Grand Cru

Moderately deep golden color. A fascinatingly complex nose offers up aromas of pear, peach, oriental spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, rosemary and a background note of dried sage that is followed by flavors that are concentrated, rich and muscular but not especially showy. This does a slow build from the mid-palate to an incredibly intense finish that literally lasts for minutes. This will need another 2 to 5 years to be at its best though it will drink well for at least another decade after it reaches its peak. Another recent bottle was drop-dead gorgeous and while this hasn't yet peaked, it has developed enough to be already quite enjoyable.

The spice and anise-scented 2000 Montrachet is a lush, medium-bodied wine. Soft layers of creamed minerals and spices can be found in its broad, soft character. It is expansive and reveals loads of underlying minerals in its persistent finish. Importers: Various including Classic Wine Imports, Boston, MA; tel. (617) 731-6644, and Beaune Imports.

Quite firm and almost closed and it required a lot of coaxing to reveal fascinatingly complex aromas of pear, peach, oriental spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, rosemary and a background note of dried sage followed by flavors that are concentrated and muscular but not showy. This does a slow build from the mid-palate to an incredibly intense finish that literally lasts for minutes. Much like the Perrières, the style of this is one of understated elegance and class. I don't believe that it's quite as magnificent as the '99 but everything is here to give it a good run for its money. Give this at least a decade though it will drink well for at least two and perhaps longer. Allen Meadows-Burghound 01/07/02