1999 Clos des Lambrays
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
Very ripe aromas of dark fruits, cinders, spices and earth, along with strong torrefaction notes of coffee and mocha; there's something here that's dulling the fruit. More pristine in the mouth than on the nose, but showing obvious evolution to its flavors of black fruits, iron and brown spices. Plenty of thickness here but lacks the peppery clarity of the 2001. Finishes with robust, rather dusty tannins. This is considerably less impressive and more evolved than a brilliant bottle I tried last winter for my 1999 horizontal, perhaps owing to a touch of brett, which has compromised the wine's inner-mouth tension and minerality. (13.9% alcohol; 3.54 pH; 3.4 g/l acidity; the crop level even after a green harvest was 45 hectoliters per hectare, which Thierry Brouin said was the highest during his time at Domaine des Lambrays)
Critic scores
Average Score
Allen Meadows, Burghound
The Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
(vinified with 100% whole clusters; Thierry Brouin told me in January that the yield of 42 hectoliters per hectare--despite a "big" green harvest--was the largest in his 38 vintages at this estate): Healthy dark red. Very sexy scents of plum, spices and cedar. Rich and silky but not a bit exotic--or even advanced, for that matter--with its seamless flavors of raspberry, spices and soil energized by salty minerality. Boasts terrific inner-mouth energy and tension, no doubt partly due to the stem element. Finishes saline and very long, with edge-free tannins and uncanny lift. At once seductively sweet and youthful, this wine should continue to evolve gracefully for another two decades.
Rich, round and spicy. Good stuff that is wearing well and has lots of lip smacking stuffing. Must have been good to have made such a positive impact at this stage in the Southwold Burgundy dinner. (JR)
Smudgey, pruney, enveloping bouquet with quite a bit of development. Lots of freshness – tingly, exciting, even racy with luscious fruit. Already drinking well. (JR)
About the producer
Domaine des Lambrays is one of Morey-Saint-Denis’s most famous estates, its history closely tied to the Grand Cru from which it takes its name – Clos des Lambrays.