10/99. Bought locally, Mar-97, for $51 (Israeli price!!!).
I rarely buy foreign wine in Israel and have never bought (except this single bottle) and will never buy here French wines and certainly not (B) wines. The insane custom taxes, duties, and the insatiable greediness of the local importers and merchants make buying foreign wine in Israel a non-viable proposition.
I don't remember why I did buy this bottle, probably because it seemed [relatively speaking of course!] "only" about 2.5 markup factor as opposed to the usual 3-4...
Also, I very rarely drink any (B) wine that is not from the Cote d'Or proper. Mercurey is further down on the Cote Chalonnaise. But I do like the wines of Faiveley, and I know this particular 1er Cru (it is!) is considered the best Mercurey.
As we planned a "Royal Brunch" for Saturday (read about it on the 1990 Grande Dame page), Friday night dinner was simple but extremely tasty. Coming to think of it, it wasn't 'simple' at all. Most components were bought by Dorit that morning from a woman who sells her excellent home cooking at a local food market.
We had stuffed vine-leaves, meat-balls in sauce, small meat-stuffed dumplings, canned salted chunk of ham and fruits.
COLOR: Medium dark (B) color, not much clearing around the rim.
NOSE: Surprisingly complex and broad-spectrum nose. Deep 'Bourgogne Nose' on the rustic [but good!!] side, enveloping the scent of fresh cherries. New leather, raw meat, sous bois - it had it all.
TASTE: Simply marvelous. I was expecting a simple honest Pinot fruit at best, but was surprised to get delicate, multi-dimensional flavors and depth. All amidst ample winyness, refreshing acidity and very soft but discernible tannins.
LENGTH: Really long and reverberating aftertaste too.
TEXTURE & BALANCE: Medium bodied, expressive and stylish. Fine rustic qualities with lots of semi-ripe fruit, reasonable stuffing and very nice balance. The only fault it had was that these fine qualities lasted only for a relatively short time. After 40 minutes or so, the wine lost its tendresse and became a bit coarse and ungainly.
OVERALL: Excellent-plus. A fine example of a non-Cote d'Or 1er Cru. About as good as it will get I believe.

MARK: 17.5/20.

BUY MORE? Yes.

Reach Me? yak@yakshaya.com

Copyright 1996-2003.
Jacob "Yak" Shaya.