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Tasting Notes for Grands Echezeaux - DRC, 1988:
I have been telling people for years that this domaine's "best buy," if such a label can be applied here, is the Grands Echezeaux. While it is not Romanee-Conti or La Tache, it often comes very close to those two titans, at a fraction of the price. In 1988, it is fabulous. In fact, my unedited tasting notes had the words "fabulous" in them twice and "awesome" once. It is decadently rich and spicy with an extraordinary perfume of violets, gamey, plum-like fruit, toasty new oak, and a finish that must last several minutes. It, like the Echezeaux, should not be consumed for at least 5 years, and should easily last until 2010 or longer. The prices for the wines of the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti may be exorbitant but the quality of the wines produced in the eighties is truly remarkable. The 1988s are celestial wines selling at stratospheric prices. The 1988 production was twice what it was in 1987, but the same as in 1985. The 1988s are fuller-bodied, deeper, more concentrated wines than the superb 1987s, and will need some time in the cellar to shed their generous amounts of tannin. The only vintage they can be favorably compared with is the 1985 vintage, and the 1985s were a great deal more forward and flattering to taste when young. There is more depth in the 1988s than in the 1986s or even the superb 1980s (which turned out to be the finest wines made in that underrated vintage). Burgundy Book # B2 Jan 1990
Parker Points: 95
Drinking Period: 1995-2010

Tasting Notes for Grands Echezeaux ( Danish Import Strips ) - DRC, 1993:
The Grands-Echezeaux is fuller, sweeter, and more concentrated than the Echezeaux. It reveals a healthy dark ruby color, an attractive nose of red and black fruits and pain grillee, followed by a medium-bodied, concentrated style with a firm, well-delineated, focused personality, and moderate tannin in the finish. It is a 15-year wine that requires another 5-6 years of patience. The DRC's 1993s possess the vintage's toughness, tannic structure, austerity, and aging potential. They will not be flattering to drink in their youth, and most will require 6-10 years of cellaring. Typical of the vintage, they appear to be the most tannic and structured wines made at this domaine since 1983. Wine Advocate # 100 Aug 1995
Parker Points: 90
Drinking Period: 2000-2010

Tasting Notes for La Tache ( Danish Import Strips ) - DRC, 1993:
As usual, La Tache reveals the most saturated deep ruby color of the DRC's, a tight but promising nose of smoky, game-like aromas intertwined with red and black fruits, minerals, and vanillin from new oak. Medium to full-bodied, with sweet, concentrated, berry fruit, this tannic, spicy, backward wine appears to possess the requisite extraction to ensure a long, positive evolution. Give it 7-10 years of cellaring and drink it over the following 12-15 years. The DRC's 1993s possess the vintage's toughness, tannic structure, austerity, and aging potential. They will not be flattering to drink in their youth, and most will require 6-10 years of cellaring. Typical of the vintage, they appear to be the most tannic and structured wines made at this domaine since 1983. PRODUCTION: 1,498 cases. Wine Advocate # 100 Aug 1995
Parker Points: 90
Drinking Period: 2002-2020

Tasting Notes for Le Corton - Bouchard Pere et Fils, 2005:
The Bouchard 2005 Le Corton Ñ from very chalky parcels in the Ur-Corton as it were, just below the forest Ñ offers aromas of cedar, spice, and smoked meat, a rather austere but certainly well-concentrated palate impression, and a bit of blockage by tannin. This seems to have been caught at a very awkward stage today. Managing director Stephane Follin and cellar master Philippe Prost preside over a remarkable new, gravity-fed winemaking facility capable of handling the fruits of BouchardÕs 130 hectares of vines Ñ BurgundyÕs largest estate (with 84 hectares in premier and grand crus alone) Ñ not to mention the enormous range of wine from purchased fruit or wines. Fully 40% of the reds are vinified in open-top fermenters with manual punch-downs (the balance in a battery of roto-fermentors) and the system of traffic control alone that must be in place during crush is hard to imagine. The underground acreage devoted to barriques similarly defies imagination Ñ until one sees it. Prost was very cautious with pigeage this year, but incorporated a significant percentage of whole clusters with stems in many of his better lots. A reputation for improved quality is being built here to which the results of 2005 will certainly contribute. I suspect that a number of the wines I tasted had not recovered from their recent bottling, hence the number of Ù+?Îs one sees displayed following my scores. Wine Advocate # 171 Jun 2007
Parker Points: 88
Drinking Period:  -