from a vintage I foolishly neglected due to the lovely 92s that preceded it, I now really like the vintage, though some bottles are tiring and few will improve. A very high acid vintage, it has calmed down.
Ampeau holds his wine for many years in a very cold cellar; this undervalued white pops occasionally onto the retail scene at a good price and I buy it.
Honeyed and layered with almonds, it is classic Meursault, not as stony or minerally as prior bottles, but still an impressive mouthful of aged white Burgundy.
Thanks Alan. I’ve enjoyed this wine on several occasions and agree it is undervalued. Did you decant it? Ampeau’s whites, in my experience, benefit greatly from extended time in the decanter, and I’m not one of the always-decant-everything crowd.
Agree with all the comments.
Thanks, Alan.
Envoyer just offered some more of the mid-90s stuff. Some great bottles there.
Some of my favorite buys over the past few years.
Bought quiet a few Ampeau '93’s a few years ago, both red and white. The good bottles were terriffic but I sure had quite a few that were horribly corked. Might have just been my bad luck.
Thanks for the note and the tip on a long decant. I haven’t broached mine yet but have had similarly excellent results with the late release potinet-ampeau version.
Wasn’t it around that time that higher-acid vintages really began to be less prized critically? To me, this and 96 really produced some gems that begged for time before opening, though it felt like the grand shift to more accessibility was well under way by 96. And then came all the risks…
I’ve had a few corked bottles, but also quite a bit of “variability” where the wines just don’t show well, and then a beautiful bottle. Very likely this is a classic demonstration of what lightly corked bottles are like–no obvious cork taint, but just not showing well.