1996 Savigny Les Beaune Les Narbantons

Possessing a medium-to-dark ruby color and intense blackberry aromas, the Savigny-Les-Beaune Les Narbantons exhibits powerful, highly-expressive red and black cherries as well as earth, truffles, and stones in its complex and medium-to-full body. This concentrated, focused, and extracted wine should be at its peak between 2000 and 2006. As an aside, I've recently tasted superb bottles of the 1993 Narbantons and Serpentieres, one in the US and one at a Beaune restaurant. These delicious wines are now entering their plateau of maturity. Maurice Ecard, the owner and highly-talented winemaker of this estate, bottled (fined but unfiltered) all his 1996s in September, 1997, just barely 12 months after the harvest. He describes the vintage as "supple and aromatic, perfect to drink while waiting for the 1995s." He aged his reds in 15% new oak barrels, stating that any additional amount would "taint Savigny's terroir; now if I were dealing with grand crus from Vosne-Romanee I might be singing a different tune." A Peter Vezan Selection (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-42-65-42-93), importers include Henry Wine Group, Benicia, CA; tel. (707)-745-8500, Ideal Wine, Medford, MA; tel. (617) 395-3300, Barrique Wine Co. Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 275-1200 , and Christopher Canaan (Europvin) (French Fax # 011-33-5-57-87-43-22) in NY and NJ, and North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel (510) 848-8910.