1995 Gevrey Chambertin Clos de la Justice

This negociant is most associated with the Gevrey-Chambertin Clos De La Justice, a good quality vineyard located in the town of Gevrey on the "wrong side of the road" (virtually all of Burgundies notable vineyard sites are west of the Route Nationale 74). Medium ruby-colored, it displays red and black berries and spices on the nose, and an attractive roasted cherry fruit, medium-bodied, decently long mouth. Easy to drink and not particularly complex, given its track record and structure, it should last up to 8 years. There are two sides to every coin. While top vignerons are estate bottling more and more of their production, the flip side is the increasing difficulty negociants are finding in acquiring quality wines and grapes. Bouree's 1995s seem to indicate that the Vallet family, which owns this old house, are victims of this shortage. When coupled with the fact that their traditional winemaking techniques (older barrels, two finings and filtering of the whites) need to be modernized and the cellar cleaned up, the results are unexciting, austere, sometimes dirty, and often tannic wines that lack the freshness and thick fruit of the better producers. This note is the result of tastings I did in Burgundy between January 7 and January 29. The wine was tasted from cask, not bottle. Pinot Noir, a fragile varietal, reacts poorly to fining, filtration, and careless bottling techniques, I recommend caution when considering buying a red burgundy based on cask samples. I called it as I tasted it, and hope the bottled wine reflects the quality of the samples I was provided. Importer: Classic Wine Imports, Boston, MA; tel (617) 731-6644.