1999 Chevillon NSG LSG

Tonight the 1999 Chevillon Nuits Les Saint Georges was up with the roast chicken with tarragon, garlic, and mustard and a brussel sprout gratin. Dark in color with no browning, the wine had a nose that was reticent upon opening. Not really showing any of its 12+ years in the taste either - hints of cinnamon and spice, but just barely. Full bodied with plenty of tannins and acidity and good length but this is still very primary. Give it another 5 years in the cellar, at least.

Posted after the wine was opened for only an hour and a half. Maybe it will be a little more giving in the next couple hours.

I bought 3 bottles of this from KL (not auction). They
were all very light and pleasant drinking but none of the 3 bottles ever developed much complexity even after a few hours. 2 of the corks were in decent condition, 1 was stained 3/4 of the way. Maybe I got a bad lot, but my experiences were very similar to your notes.

Thanks for the note.

'99 Chevillon LSG… I would think that this would be squarely in the middle of its shut down phase. Your tasting note seems to support that.

20-25yrs from the vintage seems like the appropriate drinking window for this wine to me.

Thanks Jerry. Sounds pretty shut down still.

Jerry, it sounds like you were in the kitchen - that sounds like a delicious dinner. This is good data on the LSG. It sounds much like my recent experience with the 99 Cailles. We had both the 99 Perrieres and Cailles that night. Initially, I thought the Perrieres was the more open, nuanced and interesting wine, while the Cailles was tight. However, several hours into the evening, the Cailles began to open up and was quite delicious after about five hours or so.

The last couple of bottles of 99 Les St. Georges I’ve had were delicious, but then, I like my Burgundy in a different phase than most around here. One of the reasons I love this wine is how well it almost always shows. I think 20-25 years from the vintage is a bit much.

Last night after four hours the LSG finally started to open up with some underbrush and spice, and soften on the palate. Still I’ll keep the remaining bottles buried deep in the cellar for another 5 years. I’ll try the '99 Vaucrains soon to compare with this one.

Now, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Vaucrains was too young. It is a much harder wine in every phase of its life.

I can’t actually remember having a Vaucrains from the 90’s that was “ready”, although I don’t think I’ve had the 90 or the 91.

I had the 1996 vaucrains about 5 years ago, and it was a beautiful wine right in the early stages of early maturity. A couple of years later, it was closed and gave very little, even the following day . Hard to know when they will be ready to go, but look forward to the note.

Mark - didnt we have this at Gilman’s a few months back? I dont have my notes handy but recall it showed quite well that night.

Whoops! blush [oops.gif]

Worse still, and I am obviously having a major memory lapse, I think it came from my cellar.
John gave it a 94.

well in your defense there were a lot of wines drunk that night!

Ah, I can never figure out when to drink these things… part of the “intrigue” of burgundy I suppose.

I have a single lone bottle of the '01 LSG. Recent notes suggest that the wine is drinking well right now… but I hesitate to “waste” the bottle. Anyone out there with experience/advice?

Thanks for the note. I have a single bottle which I picked up from a now-retired friend/importer. At my age (57), I’m sure as hell not going to wait 20 years to drink it!

That’s why you never buy one bottle!!!

I know, I know… For wines I intend to cellar, I normally try to buy 4… one for immediate consumption and 3 for the long term… but this lone bottle popped up at CSW, at a favorable price too… in this case I would say one is better than none…

FWIW, a note on the 1990 from mid-2008:

5/4/08: turkey burgers; .…when first opened this was majestic: barnyard (clean) aromas, cherries, wonderful and tasted the same. As it opened its structure showed up…and[my wife]said it was “tannic”…(not sure)…either way, this has great promise…but needs 4-5 more years…geez…

One of the reasons I try to figure out a “good” aeration approach and not “pop and pour” if I can help it. Too many wines close down on their structures… way quicker than I want.

I opened a 1999 Les Cailles from my cellar (purchased upon release) last may and it was tighter than a drum and remained so for most of the evening. This was not opened at home so I couldn’t follow up on it later.

OTOH, a 1996 Les St George from a friend’s cellar, which was also purchased upon release and well-stored, opened about a year ago was surprisingly soft and open!

May be the difference between the structure being more acidity ('96) VS. tannins ('99 and '90, to a degree).