1996 Richebourg Grand Cru

Anne Gros brought in a very small crop with high sugars in 1997; very little chaptalization was needed. But the pHs were close to those of '95, according to Gros, and no acid adjustments were required. Except for the Vosne Romanee, the '97s were in tank in November, in preparation for a December bottling. Gros had not yet decided whether to filter her '97s, but noted that the wines had a lot of pectins and had been hard to clarify. The '96s at this address are among the standouts of the vintage, offering extraordinary sweetness and fleshiness to buffer their strong acids. (A Peter Vezan selection; importers include North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY; Arborway Imports, Lexington, MA; and Vintner Select, Cincinnati, OH)

Anne Gros was limping around her cellar in November: in addition to being pregnant with her third child, she was recovering from a sciatic problem that afflicted her while on vacation. Gros planned to put her extraordinary '96s into tank in late November, allowing the wines to settle for two months before bottling them in January. Thanks to what she described as the "squeaky-clean" nature of the vintage, she hoped to bottle without fining or filtration for the first time. (A Peter Vezan selection; importers include North Berkeley Wines, Berkeley, CA, The Stacole Co., Boca Raton, FL; Arborway Imports, Lexington, MA; and Vintner Select, Cincinnati, OH)