(13.8% natural alcohol) Ruby-red. Vibrant, precise aromas of black fruits, violet, minerals and gun metal. A wine of great breadth and verve; still quite closed but already displays great energy in the middle palate. Flavors of raspberry and gunflint offer lovely restrained sweetness. Solidly structured but not hard; still, this wine firm acids and solid tannins call for a good 8 to 10 years of bottle aging.

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 31/08/2001 The 1999 Clos de Tart is certainly outstanding and potentially exceptional. It displays a gorgeous nose of rich plums, sweet black cherries, candied blueberries, and loads of spices. Medium to full-bodied and opulent, this is a lush, deep, and fresh wine. Its velvety-textured flavor profile is crammed with blueberries, red cherries, and blackberries that seem to burst in the mouth, revealing their sweet, refreshing juices, in a way not dissimilar to the finest 1996s. It also displays complex nuances of spices, oak, and hints of orange zest. This marvelous wine should be at its peak of maturity between 2005 and 2012. Bravo! Sylvain Pithiot, who is responsible (with his father-in-law, Pierre Poupon) for the exceptional topographical maps of Burgundy's vineyards, is also the director and winemaker at this fine estate. He characterizes 1999 as "a great year, a dream year, one I'd have to place along with 1990 and 1996." He went on to explain that the estate's philosophy in recent years has been to have five bunches per vine, which generally translates to 30 hectoliters per hectare. Yet, in 1999, "the weather was so extraordinary, we left six bunches, which resulted in 42 hectoliter per hectare yields. In 2000, we returned to our five bunch per vine practice and harvested 31 hectoliters per hectare." No known American importer.

Still relatively deep in colour, and the impressive aromatic profile is holding nothing back: liquorice, spice and earth in addition to the warm, succulent fruits.  By comparison to the 2000 vintage, the acidity is just a little insistent and the tannins are a little sterner.  Will it pull ahead in the long term?  Perhaps, but just now I prefer the rosier 2000.

Full bottle 1,337 g. Dark, subtly shaded blackish ruby. Very rich, hedonistic nose. Sweet with liquorice and some dried-grass notes. Prunes, a hint of blue cheese, and some light tannic imprint still. But a seriously interesting bottle. Real sore-throat wine for its persistence and depth. (JR)