1997 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche Grand Cru

The first-rate 1997 Clos de la Roche has exuberant aromas of red fruits and licorice. This is a wine that combines Dujac's trademark elegance with power, density, and jammy, super-ripe flavors. Candied berries, chocolate-covered cherries, and red currant liqueur are found in this medium to full-bodied, complex, and mouth-coating offering. Projected maturity: now-2009. Importer: Wilson-Daniels, St. Helena, CA; tel (707) 963-9661.

Slightly under ripe if elegant primary red pinot fruit nose followed by still tight, detailed, intense flavors that are somewhat edgy and not altogether well balanced. There is good length here and while this is clearly a wine of quality, it isn't singing at the moment and it's not clear that there is sufficient underlying material to carry this to something special at maturity.Allen Meadows, Burghound, Jul, 2004