1993 Chambertin Clos de Beze

A spicy, earthy and still quite primary nose of red and black pinot fruit introduce complex, edgy and powerful full-bodied flavors that offer impressive precision and depth on the long and wonderfully persistent finish. This will require at least 8 to 10 years to be at its best but the underlying potential is undoubtedly there.

The oaky, medium-bodied, tough-textured, but rich Chambertin-Clos de Beze possesses enough positive raw materials that ten years of cellaring may provide a very good bottle of wine - for a mere $125! The wine will be long-lived, but how much fruit will remain after a decade is debatable. The obvious as well as legitimate question of whether I can review Faiveley's 1993 wines fairly (Faiveley sued me, Simon & Schuster, and its former Chairman of the Board, Richard Snyder, for libel in 1994), will have to be answered by my readers. The 1993s were tasted blind with three other Burgundy enthusiasts, and, true to form, my scores averaged 1-3 points higher per wine than those of my co-tasters. The most successful wines possess the tell-tale hardness, austerity, and toughness of the vintage, but they possess enough fruit to carry them through the 7-10 years they will require to shed some of the tannin. Importer: A Henry Cavalier Selection, various American importers, including Ideal Wines, Medford, MA; tel. (617) 395-3300