The 1999 Grands Echézeaux Grand Cru is a wine that I had not tasted since just after bottling when I rhapsodized upon its sumptuousness. Now, as it approaches adulthood, I am still totally enamored by this wine. Firstly, it has a deeper colour than the 1999 Echézeaux and the bouquet is unequivocally more nuanced, a mixture of red and black fruit, hints of black truffle and iron filings, all with impressive vigor and focus. The palate is medium-bodied with sublime balance, perfectly pitched acidity and a sense of harmony that is beguiling. There is symmetry to this Grands Echézeaux. Everything is in its right place and it harnesses the precocity of the vintage without allowing it to overcome the terroir. With aeration it just seems to get better and better, so do not be afraid to decant this. Tasted at the 1999 DRC dinner.

A dark, brooding wine, the 1999 Grands-Échézeaux is simply sensational. Firm tannins provide the backbone in an intensely perfumed, savory Burgundy loaded with class and nuance. Smoke, tar, leather and herbs open up in a mysterious, intensely perfumed Burgundy that has so much still to say. The broad, textured finish makes it impossible to resist a second taste, and then a third. I expect the 1999 will drink well for another 20 years, perhaps longer. This is a fabulous showing for the Grands-Échézeaux.

I have now tasted the '99 GE some 6 times since my original review in Issue 5 and it continues to improve, indeed to the point that I have raised my score modestly. There is still a touch of new oak framing the penetrating red and blackberry fruits, vanilla and oriental spice aromas and it continues onto the beautifully detailed and quite robust flavors that deliver excellent precision. This is a big wine with richness, superb length and impressive refinement and it's clear that this will live for decades. In sum, this is very classy juice.

The dark ruby-colored 1999 Grands-Echezeaux has gorgeous talcum powder, perfume, and candied cherry aromas. This sumptuously sweet, yet elegant, medium-bodied wine is crammed with blackberries and sugar-coated cherries. Oak shows through in this wine's satiny finish. Drink it over the next 12 years. Importer: Wilson-Daniels, St. Helena, CA; tel. (707) 963-9661.

Saturated ruby-red. Highly nuanced nose combines raspberry, redcurrant, plum, violet, rose petal, pepper, oak spice and tobacco. Sweet, fat, round and spicy, but with lovely vinosity. Quite backward after the Echezeaux. A wine with impressive density and verve, long and subtle on the back end.

Magnum. Very heady and sumptuous. Exuberant in terms of fruit but its needs time or decanting to show itself to maximum advantage. (JR)