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1983 Domaine Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru (3/29/2012)
Quite a start to the evening. Served blind, I thought this was a decently good Burg with a bit of age on it, but it certainly did not drink like a wine approaching its 30th year nor, more unfortunately, was it as good one would expect from a Ramonet Bâtard. It had a very rich, ripe nose, almost sweet with honeyed aromas wrapped around a core of apple flesh, rather more tropical pineapple notes and even a touch of banana, before some slightly smoky, earthy, minerally nuances floated out. With time in the glass, the bouquet took on an additional layer of buttery, creamy accents. Very pleasant in a sweet, ripe way. This still was led by its fruit aromas, and there was little by way of either caramelly notes or more tertiary mushroomy accents to suggest its age. The same thing could be said about the palate. There was plenty of that sweet fleshy fruit here, apples and pineapples again, especially on the wine’s very full, fleshy attack. These were met by some honeyed stone-fruit notes on the midpalate, peach and nectarine maybe, before all that fruit melded with a lovely stream of stony mineral and spice as the wine pulled away into a long, persistent finish. For something so fruity and fleshy, there was also a surprising amount of really zippy acidity underlining the whole structure of the wine, brightening it almost to the point of sharpness drank slightly too cold and without food. However, with some air and morsels of fried stuff to line the palate, the wine calmed down significantly to show as a pretty nicely balanced package. There was just a bit of alcohol heat at the edge of the back-palate that shook the overall poise of the wine slightly. Otherwise, this was a very enjoyable wine - balanced, vibrant and youthful. This drank like something at least a good decade younger. However, while it should hold very well in the bottle, I do not think there is all that much room for improvement going forward. (92 pts.)
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