1995 Le Montrachet

Possessing a harnessed, super-tightly wound nose of sweet fruit and steely components, the '95 Montrachet is a compelling wine. Its powerful racy mouth, jam-packed with dense underlying fruit and minerals, is just waiting to explode to the surface. Lardiere's touch can be seen in the brilliant use of oak which provides a gorgeous spiciness to the wine. Full-bodied, complex, intense and long, this wine needs 7-9 years to blossom; it will age effortlessly for 20+ years. At this point, the wine is like a thoroughbred caged in the starting gates, impatiently waiting for the race to begin, its muscles trembling with anticipation for what is to come. This note is the result of tastings I did in Burgundy between January 7 and January 29. Ratings with a range of scores in parentheses indicate the wine was tasted from cask, not bottle. Pierre-Henri Gagey, the director of the highly respected Louis Jadot negociant house and his extremely talented winemaker Jacques Lardiere, are excited about their '95s. Like everybody else in the Cote, they saw the flowering on their whites get seriously damaged by the May snow fall. This resulted in a 30% reduction of their overall production, with some vineyards having yields more than 50% below the norm (Montrachet for example). The resulting grapes were very small and packed with concentrated juice, thereby providing fabulous raw material for Lardiere to display his considerable talent. Importer: Kobrand, Inc., New York, NY; (212) 490-9300.