Correction added -a few early-90s Chambertins from Rousseau, Leroy, and Jadot...

WINE TALK
1

I changed the terminology in the descriptions for the Leroy and the Jadot because I didn’t mean “very good indeed” as Coates uses that terminology!

1992 Rousseau Chambertin - the real surprise, from a lesser vintage, this had a very, very lovely floral nose and supple, classy flavors. Excellent! This is “ready”, but should hold and maybe even improve for 5+ years anyway!

1991 Leroy Chambertin - a little disapointing after the Rousseau. A bit stern and undeveloped at first, but after an additional couple of hours it slowly smooths out more and gains length, and becomes at least “fine plus”. Should get better with more age - after all, it is “only” 22 years old! :slight_smile:

1990 Jadot Clos de Beze - a bit fuller, and also somewhat slow to develop, but again, after a couple more hours, it smooths out and becomes “fine”, if not as expressive as the Rousseau. This should also get a bit better with more age. Aaargh!

I opened these a full 5 hours before initial serving time and took out a small exploratory taste to enlarge the surface areas to half-dollar size. All tasted a bit fresh and rigid, which is typical for freshly opened bottles. None had any advanced color, not even “mature” color at the rims, despite having been not particularly cold stored in my passive cellar. Slow-O-ed and not decanted - served nicely cool, of course!

2

'91 and '92 are underrated vintages IMO - I’ve had a number of excellent wines from both.

Rousseau Chambertin is one of the best in any vintage and that bottling in '92 was no exception when we had it a couple years back.

3

Thanks for the notes, Paul. I’ve had several of the “other” Chambertins, but never Chambertin itself.

Leroy had some excellent '91s, and I believe they were also their last good-vintage-but-affordable releases.

4

Frank,

Yes, the Leroys got expensive soon afterwards. I think I only paid about $120 for the Chambertin when I bought it. Seemed expensive at the time! Of course, now all the big names in Burgundy have gone through the roof. Maybe a “lesser” vintage of Rousseau, like this '92, might still be available at auction sometime, for a reasonable price.

5

I’ve had a bottle of the '90 Jadot CDB sitting upright waiting to go for the last few days. After reading this maybe I’ll put that away until its 25th birthday. Thank you Sir!

6

Nice wines Paul. 92’s are really drinking well.

7

92 is the only vintage of the nineties which offers the great pleasure of fully mature burgundy, and what a joy it is. It makes me wonder why we seek out the ‘best’ vintages and then try to enjoy them far too young.

8

I have had some good experiences with 92. The 91s, on the other hand, have been called underrated for so long that I think they have quietly become overrated. I love how everyone talks about how no one appreciates them! [wow.gif]

9

I can recall drinking the '91 Leroy shortly after release and still ‘tasting’ it two days later…

10

Please note change to “rating descriptors” with wines 2 and 3…

11

*****It makes me wonder why we seek out the ‘best’ vintages and then try to enjoy them far too young. ****


Hmm…I politely beg to differ. it really depends on how many bottles of the same wine from the best vintages one has. For example if one owns more than 2 cases of 12, then should he opened 1 at age 5, next one age 78, and then the third one at age 10…etc…etc.

Worst…1993 g-cru never mellow out until age 18-20. What I am trying to say : different people enjoy wines diffrently