Lalou Bize-Leroy's 2001 Richebourg Grand Cru is drinking brilliantly, entirely transcending early estimates of the vintage's quality. Soaring from the glass with a captivating bouquet of wilted rose petals, peonies, exotic spices, sweet red berries, plums and vine smoke, it's full-bodied, satiny and sensual, with an enveloping core of vibrant fruit, melting tannins and a long, pungently perfumed finish. It's at the beginning of a glorious plateau of maturity.

Bright ruby-red. Slightly blacker, less exotic nose dominated by dark berries, licorice and minerals. Less lush and more reserved today than the RSV but penetrating, vibrant and gripping. Really folded in on itself and hiding more than it's revealing; less obviously sweet than the RSV. But the long, minerally, very fine finish suggests that this wine will reward a decade or so of bottle aging.

The 2001 Richebourg Grand Cru from Leroy has a pure, elegant and bewitchingly reserved bouquet that only gradually unfurls in the glass. This is not as immediate as the Romanée-Saint-Vivant; just a touch of oak shows through for the first 30 minutes, although it is rapidly subsumed. There are captivating scents of black cherry, hints of cranberry and almost moss-like aromas here. The palate is defined by supple tannin, quite dense and certainly youthful given that it is now 17 years old. It feels very layered in the mouth. The fruit profile veers more toward red than black, laced with rose petals and a hint of glycine. A slightly honeyed texture develops with time. A sensual and voluptuous Richebourg compared to the more masculine take on the vineyard from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. 2,098 bottles produced. Tasted at the DRC/Leroy comparative dinner in Hong Kong.

A magnificent burst of regal red fruits explodes from the glass of the medium to dark ruby-colored 2001 Richebourg. Big, plush, expansive, and noble, this impressively endowed wine is medium to full-bodied, deep, and concentrated. Its opulent personality reveals loads of spice-laden, gorgeously sweet blackberries and dark cherries. While its finish is somewhat rustic, this is an outstanding, powerful, complex offering in a vintage where those attributes are rare. Projected maturity: 2005-2012. Madame Lalou Bize-Leroy liked both the 2000 and 2001 vintages, stating that she was “rather pleased with the 2001s as they will bring lots of joy to those who drink them young” and that the 2000s “are candied fruit, reduction of fruit, the essence of fruit.” Many Burgundians chose to bottle their 2001 early in order to “trap” the fruit in the bottle, but Bize-Leroy beat them all to the punch, having completed the bottling process by early September, 2002. Typically an early bottler, Mme. Bize-Leroy felt that the 2001s would lose their fruit to either oxidation or the required sulfuring if left in the barrel for a longer elevage. Overall, Domaine Leroy’s 2001s are a success, though many were found to reveal stemmy, woody tannin in their finishes. If this characteristic melts away quickly, my scores on those wines will appear overly conservative. Importer: Martine’s Wines, San Raphael, CA; tel. (415) 883-0400