TN: Two 96 red Burgs

96 Arlaud Gevrey Combottes en magnum was a good wine, a little too much structure and tannin for the fruit. Try again in a decade, but I am not sure there is enough fruit. It is a fairly high acid wine and is somewhat shrill because of that. 96 P. Livera Chapelle Chambertin was, the next night, simply fabulous once again. I have not had many Livera wines, but this one (made by C. Dugat) is absolutely great. The density of sour cherry fruit, the complex nose, the endless finish, all go to making this an amazing wine. This is great grand cru wine that was available for next to nothing on release and for years later. I need to look in more on this domaine. Anybody know anything?
alan

Not specifically Livera, but more re Chapelle.
I often find this a far from stand-out vineyard when the wines are young, but boy do they become special with a bit of age - more-so (the improvement with age) than most of the other Gevrey GCs I think…

I’ve had few Chapelle Chambertin–Leroy has some from the early 60s that were quite special.
alan

I’d like to know more about Livera as well. I have a 99 Chapelle-chamb that I am waiting on, but I have no info on the domain.

for a while, it was a “secret” that C. Dugat made the wine. I have a 99 Chapelle C. with Dugat’s label on it; that is when I learned of the metayage–he keeps half under his label, half goes under the Livera label. Don’t know if that is the current situation, though.
alan

Thanks for the note Alan. Not seen a Livera here, sounds great. I have had a couple of 96 in the last week, a brilliant Rousseau Clos de Beze that would have been a nice match to your Chapelle. Also a 96 de Montille Pommard Rugiens, just hinting at opening at present, very much old regime de Montille that is going to need serious time though the fruit is there under raps much like your Arlaud sounds.

I had a '69 Leroy Chapelle Chambertin last year and it was outstanding!

Older Jadot Chapelles are consistently outstanding.
Mike, the 96 Montille Rugiens took ages to close, it was a most beautiful wine at a time when most 96s were absolutely unapproachable.

I think North Berkeley imports Livera, any contacts over there to find out something?

Livera is still going strong, in fact they have just added some new vineyards to their line up. A lot of the wine making responsibilities have moved to Philippe’s son, Damien. We have asked Phillippe a number of times about the Dugat meytage rumor. He has consistently said that there has never been any agreement between him and Dugat.