2002 Clos Vougeot

Bright, full red. Superripe aromas of musky red fruits, plum, smoke and meat; I might have picked this blind as a Corton grand cru. Then sweet but tight, with a strong licorice flavor. A fairly large-scaled wine but closed in on itself today. Finishes classically dry and very long, with firm but harmonious tannins. This was the estate's ripest wine in 2001 in terms of grape sugars, but it will require at least six or seven years to express itself.

One of the stars of the 2002 vintage is Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg’s Clos Vougeot. Its boisterous black cherry-laced aromas are sweet, spicy, and peppery. Lush, layered, and supremely elegant, its personality is reminiscent of cherry resin laced with innumerable spices. From this wine’s attack to its magnificently long finish, there isn’t a hitch to be found, as it gracefully bastes the palate with its sublime fruit. Drink this charming yet powerful wine between 2007 and 2017. Importer: A Peter Vezan Selection, Paris fax #011-33-1-42-55-42-93

Ruby-red. Superripe but withdrawn nose hints at red and black cherry, licorice and flowers. Fat, sweet and dense in the middle palate; not currently as perfumed as the Ruchottes but this is wonderfully ripe and pliant for Clos Vougeot. Really explodes on the back end and mounts inexorably, with the tannins remarkably suave for this grand cru. Not your father's austere Clos Vougeot-in fact, not Marie-Christine and Marie-Andree's father's austere Clos Vougeot either. Along with the Chaignots, this was the ripest wine in 2002, with natural alcohol of 13.4%. Even this normally slow-to-open wine should approach its peak within six or seven years.