Similar to the 1990s from one of Pommard's other top producers, Armand and Aleth Girardin, this is a monster wine. It is one of the most concentrated, massive Pinot Noirs I have ever tasted. The wine was bottled with no fining or filtering after it had spent 23-months in small oak casks. The color is black/purple, and the nose offers up sweet aromas of licorice, minerals, and super-ripe black fruits intertwined with the smell of toasty vanillin new oak. In the mouth, there is awesome concentration, a thick, glycerin-imbued, full-bodied, chewy texture, and mouthsearing tannins in the explosively long finish. This should prove to be a monumental Pommard, but prospective purchasers will need to wait 10-12 years for this wine to shed some of its tannic clout. It should keep for 25-30 years. Importers: William Grant and Sons, New York, NY and a Becky Wasserman Selection -various importers.

Benjamin Leroux poured the powerful 1990 Comte Armand Clos des Epeneaux from magnum. Still deeply colored, it was youthful and structured, with tons of fruit and terrific harmony.

The 1990 Pommard Clos des Epeneaux 1er Cru is intense on the nose; it's pretty backward with a lot of glycerine, though there is a confected element that is not displayed on, say, the 1996. The palate is medium-bodied with hard tannins, like the very similar 1991, muscular and brawny without much in the way of finesse of Pinoté towards the finish. Tasted at the Clos des Epeneaux vertical in London.