Clive Coates

GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN 1996
As elsewhere, these wines will only be racked once, at bottling. Good colour. Sturdy and gently raw, but with a good base of oak. Nicely austere. Good fruit. A full, firm village example. Very good for what it is. From 2002-2003.

GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN PETITE CHAPELLE 1996
Good colour. this is riper and more stylish. Fullish. Good grip. From 2003.

GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN CLOS PRIEUR 1996
More volume and and fat here. Very good fruit. Good tannins. Still on the austere side, but not hard. Balanced and elegant. This will need more time. Very good plus. From 2004.

CHAPELLE-CHAMBERTIN 1996
This is better. Undeniably fine, with more elegant tannins and fruit and better concentration and intensity in the middle. Full, rich. Long and complex. Very long at the end. Fine quality. from 2005.

LATRICIERES-CHAMBERTIN 1996
Very good colour. Lovely rich succulent fruit on the nose. On the palate there is good substance. Very good indeed. From 2000.

CHAMBERTIN 1996
And this yet better, at is should be. A big wine, and totally consistent. Lovely concentrated fruit. Profound and very elegant. Sophisticated tannins and plenty of them. A wine of real size and depth and high quality. Very fine. From 2006.

MARSANNAY 1996
This was in bottle a week previously. Good colour. Quite cool but not over-extracted. The fruit is ample and the wine well-balanced and stylish Good positive finish. Shows well. From 2001.

International Wine Cellar
Steven Tanzer

Jean-Louis TRAPET carried out both a green pruning and a green harvest to reduce yields in '96. He did a long cold maceration (10 to 12 days, depending on the cru), then kept more of the lees to nourish the wine during "élevage".
Trapet is buying more new oak today than ever before ; the target, he says, is a minimum of 50 %new oak even for the basic wines. But he hastens to point out that he is buying only lightly toasted barrels that have been air-dried for a full three years. Like so many of his colleagues Trapet describes '96 as a freit style of wine, while '95 produced massive wines that were more austere during their time in barrel.

GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN PETITE CHAPELLE 1996
Very good deep ruby red. Reduced, meaty aromas of black cherry and spice. Sweeter and more intensely flavored than the Gevey Villags, with good fresh, delineated fruit. 85-88.

GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN CLOS PRIEUR 1996
Red ruby, cassis, black cherry and spicy, nutty oak on the nose. Fatter and silkier in the mouth, and much easier to taste today. Firm fruit is given freshness clarity by juicy acidity. Showing well. 86-89.

LATRICIERES-CHAMBERTIN 1996
Deep red-ruby. Cassis, cherry, redcurrant, smoked meat and oak spice on the nose. Dense and spicy ; larger scaled than the last wine but still a bit brutal today. But very subtle on the finish : the tannins hit the palate early, but the fruit lingers and lingers. 88-91.

CHAPELLE-CHAMBERTIN 1996
Similar color. More meat and smoke on the nose, with sappy cherry in the background. Fatter and more expansive than the Latricières ; this has the strong fruit and the pliant texture of the better '96.
Really lovely fruit. Finishes strong and sweet.
Perhaps not quite as firm as the above, but the silky texture is compelling. The '96 provided an excellent foil for this "hot" soils. 89-92.

CHAMBERTIN 1996
Bright, deep red ruby. Extraordinary "sauvage" perfume hit a black cherry, smoke, iodine, grilled nuts and an almost salty impression of extract.
Quite thick yet bright in the mouth ; here strong extract buffers firm acidity, giving the wine a roundness rare for the year.
Finishes with a touch of youthful austerity, but the tannins are in balance with the wine. Should be very strong. 92-94.

Robert Parker 31-08-98

Chambertin : 92-94+
Latricières-Chambertin : 91-93
Chapelle-Chambertin : 90-92
Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Prieur : 89
Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes : 88

The medium to dark ruby-colored GEVREY CHAMBERTIN VIEILLES VIGNES has spicy black fruit aromas, and immensly appealing core of liqorice-laced black berries, cassis, and black cherries. This ripe, dense, medium bodied, and powerful wine has a velvety texture, ripe tannins, and a precise and flavorful finish. Drink it between 2000 and 2006.

Displaying a similar color and a cinnamon and cassis-scented nose, the GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN CLOS PRIEUR is a medium bodied, thick, juicy, harmonious, and elegant offering. I quite impressed by its ripe, black cherry and blackberry-flavored character as well as by its long, and well deleanited finish. Anticipated maturity : 2000-2006.

The dark-ruby-colored CHAPELLE-CHAMBERTIN has a nose that is crammed with ripe black, fruits and traces of toasted oak. This full-bodied, silky-texture, concentrated, and immensly complex wine offers flavors of red and black cherries, earth, rosemary, juniper berries and cloves that are persistent. Projected maturity : 2003-2010.

Displaying a similar color and aromas reminiscent of fresh black cherries intermingled with ,scents of leather and candied orange peels, the LATRICIERES-CHAMBERTIN is a full-bodied, thick; chewy wine. More masculine and structured than the Chapelle, it offers cassis, Asian spices and morel and porcini mushroom flavors in its intricate and concentrated character. Drink it between 2003 and 2009.

The spectacular CHAMBERTIN exhibits a dark ruby/purple color and offers a nose that that calls to mind a chocolate milk-shake in which cherry syrup has been poured. This is massive, super-thick, hugely concentrated and extacted wine. It is powerfully-flavored (plums, prunes, and cherries drenched in chocolate), intense, dense and prodigiously long. I am ecstatic about this domaine's progress. Bravo !