2 bottles per lot
Details
Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru--Vintage 1988
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
Bottle numbers 8201 and 8300
Vintage note: With the '85s, one of the best vintages of the decade. But whilst the '85s had an easy - misleadingly easy - charm, the '88s were less flattering, firmer and with a long life predicted. But, however high the overall standard, the common denominator is tannin. Most are tannic, some heavily laden.
Mild winter, wet spring, continuing cool and damp though the flowering was satisfactory. The important feature of the growing season was an exceptional summer: three hot, dry months from the end of July through to October, happily interspersed with refreshing showers. The result of this heat was thick skins, ripe and concentrated flesh, deep colour, fairly substantial alcohol and a great deal of tannin. All the signs are that this is a long-term vintage but, as always, with this amount of tannin, there is a worry that the tannin will outlive the fruit. Happily, the intrinsic richness, the extract and the complexity will, I am fairly sure, make these wines are rare pleasure to drink through the first two decades of the 21st century. Michael Broadbent, Vintage Wine
Tasting note: An immediately attractive wine when tasted at the Domaine two years after the vintage, spicy yet harmonious, rich and rounded. In January and March 1991, ruddy colour, cherry-tinged; penetrating DRC Pinot aromas; powerful yet elegant, good length - all virtues. More recently at the St-Vivant vertical at the Domaine: now medium-deep, bright, open, rich 'legs'; sweet, harmonious nose with a whiff of vanillin, its initial harsh edge softening and opening up. Almost sickly sweet after an hour or two in the glass. Medium-sweet entry leading to a very dry, tannic finish, full-bodied a crisp, firm. Fine wine, needs time. Last tasted Nov 1995. Then *(****) Probably fully evolved 2008-2020. Michael Broadbent, Vintage Wine
2 bottles per lot
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
Bottle numbers 8201 and 8300
Vintage note: With the '85s, one of the best vintages of the decade. But whilst the '85s had an easy - misleadingly easy - charm, the '88s were less flattering, firmer and with a long life predicted. But, however high the overall standard, the common denominator is tannin. Most are tannic, some heavily laden.
Mild winter, wet spring, continuing cool and damp though the flowering was satisfactory. The important feature of the growing season was an exceptional summer: three hot, dry months from the end of July through to October, happily interspersed with refreshing showers. The result of this heat was thick skins, ripe and concentrated flesh, deep colour, fairly substantial alcohol and a great deal of tannin. All the signs are that this is a long-term vintage but, as always, with this amount of tannin, there is a worry that the tannin will outlive the fruit. Happily, the intrinsic richness, the extract and the complexity will, I am fairly sure, make these wines are rare pleasure to drink through the first two decades of the 21st century. Michael Broadbent, Vintage Wine
Tasting note: An immediately attractive wine when tasted at the Domaine two years after the vintage, spicy yet harmonious, rich and rounded. In January and March 1991, ruddy colour, cherry-tinged; penetrating DRC Pinot aromas; powerful yet elegant, good length - all virtues. More recently at the St-Vivant vertical at the Domaine: now medium-deep, bright, open, rich 'legs'; sweet, harmonious nose with a whiff of vanillin, its initial harsh edge softening and opening up. Almost sickly sweet after an hour or two in the glass. Medium-sweet entry leading to a very dry, tannic finish, full-bodied a crisp, firm. Fine wine, needs time. Last tasted Nov 1995. Then *(****) Probably fully evolved 2008-2020. Michael Broadbent, Vintage Wine
2 bottles per lot
Special notice
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