1996 Mong-Mug Grands-Ech

My last bottle of this, I’m so very sorry to say.

Served with grilled duck breasts and my sauce of lime and gewurztraminer, along with a simple salad.

Slightly bricky color that actually seemed to darken in the glass. The aromas are black cherry, with a hint of raspberry and plenty of sous-bois. The palate is now fully secondary, there is still some brightness and vigor but they are under a panoply of earthy, meaty flavors. The texture is lighter than my last bottle, but extremely fine-grained and a real pleasure, it is almost velvety. Some red fruits surface from under the black cherry, this is satisfying and very subtle, but I miss the freshness of a few years back. Rated 93.5, fully mature. This will not go over the hill tomorrow, but I wouldn’t hold it more than another year or so.

Dan Kravitz

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Interesting note Dan,
We are having a small 96 red Burg retrospective in the near future, now I am really interested in how the wine show.
Cheers

Helpful note. I picked a bottle of this up out of a cellar sale last spring. You’ve just provided a great reason to open it.

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friends,

I stopped being a client at MM’s after the 96s. Grands Echezeaux always has been his best wine in my humble opinion even outclassing his RICHEBOURG (however excellent the RICHE 97 was). But the wines were too often not top-notch for me. Nor could I understand why the prices went up by a considerable marge for the 92s after the excellent 91s.

SINCERLY JOHAN

friends,

I stopped being a client at MM’s after the 96s. Grands Echezeaux always has been his best wine in my humble opinion even outclassing his RICHEBOURG (however excellent the RICHE 97 was). But the wines were too often not top-notch for me. Nor could I understand why the prices went up by a considerable marge for the 92s after the excellent 91s.

SINCERLY JOHAN

to Rob B,

Yes, I would drink it soon. I’m really looking forward to starting the Sandar & Hem 4-pack I bought. I’m a huge fan of Bates Ranch Cabernet, having had it in well over a dozen vintages going back to the 1970s. The idea of opening one at 3 years of age is daunting, but I will do it.

to Johan,

I also stopped buying but not for any complaint about quality (which I found very consistent) or price compared to other growers. I simply stopped buying Cote de Nuits Burgundy in general. I have about 200 bottles of Burgundy in my basement, but not more than a dozen from the Cote de Nuits. I do have a 2009 Bertagna Vougeot ‘Clos de la Perriere’ lined up for next week.

Dan Kravitz

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