1999 Beaune Bressandes

Bright, dark red with the beginning of amber. The nose offers notes of truffle, mocha and licorice but also boasts lovely retention of dark berry fruit. Sweet, silky and tactile, with its black cherry and dark berry flavors complicated by a whiff of game and nicely framed by harmonious balancing acidity. This still-youthful wine is evolving slowly and has plenty of life ahead of it. Finishes chewy but not dry, with the tannins making themselves felt very late. Geoffrey Choppin de Janvry told me that his aunt vinified this wine, using 50% new oak to age it, and that he arrived at the estate at the beginning of 2000 and was responsible for finishing it. And today he is doing gentler extraction.