1998 Vosne-Romanee

Laurent describes '97, '98 and '99 as "three good transitional vintages. I'm waiting for the next great one." Laurent bought 30% less wine in '97 than in '96, and 30% less again in '98. But his more successful wines from both years are among the stars of their respective vintages. In fact, Laurent says he didn't much like the '98 vintage at the start (and thus bought less of it), but notes that the wines have developed slowly and well, becoming classic and concentrated. He believes that harvest conditions favored the Cote de Beaune over the Cote de Nuits. Most of the growers from whom this negociant buys barrels of wine practice relatively gentle extraction during vinification. "Of course a vigneron can fail to get enough from his grapes, but basically he is more likely to screw up by cooking the aromas or by extracting excessively hard tannins," says Laurent. "Too many wines today are vinified to show specific aromas or dark colors for the critics, without any thought to how they will evolve over 10 or 20 years."