Laurent Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits, France

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Laurent's dark-ruby colored Charmes-Chambertin reveals a port-like nose of super-ripe fruits and white pepper. It is a beautifully crafted, elegant, sweet cherry-packed, supple wine with touches of vanilla, Asian spices and violets for additional complexity. It will be at its best between 2002-2010.This note is the result of tastings I did in Burgundy between January 7 and January 29. The wine was tasted from cask, not bottle. Pinot Noir, a fragile varietal, reacts poorly to fining, filtration, and careless bottling techniques, I recommend caution when considering buying a red burgundy based on cask samples. I called it as I tasted it, and hope the bottled wine reflects the quality of the samples I was provided.A Patrick Lesec Selection (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-42-84-38-22), various American importers.

Laurent's top 1993s are massively concentrated, huge, intense wines that will require 8-10 years of cellaring. The grand crus from Gevrey-Chambertin are some of the finest wines in the Laurent portfolio. The Charmes-Chambertin is a massively-endowed, extremely tannic, full-bodied, black/purple-colored wine with great purity of fruit, ripeness, and staggering concentration and extract. Most Charmes-Chambertins are made in a flattering, up-front style, but this one needs 8-10 years of cellaring; it is a 25-year wine. A Patrick Lesec Selection (Paris fax # 011 33 1 42843822), various American importers

The 1992 Charmes-Chambertin is a terrific wine from what is generally acknowledged to be a mediocre vintage for red wine. It boasts big, rich, sweet, jammy, black-cherry fruit backed up by hefty notes of smoky, toasty, new oak. Sweet, chewy, and concentrated, with soft tannin and full body, this lush, thick, sumptuous 1992 should be drunk over the next 7-8 years. Laurent, an ex-pastry chef, launched his wine career with the 1989 vintage. I have not tasted any of the earlier vintages, but certainly Laurent, who purchases the wines from growers, ages them in 100% new oak, and bottles them without fining or filtration, has hit the bull's eye with some gorgeous 1992s. They are among the most seductive, sumptuous wines of the vintage. The three grand crus I tasted, obviously expensive, do indeed exhibit far more richness, complexity, and style than most wines from Laurent's peers. These immensely impressive wines merit Burgundy enthusiasts' attention.A Patrick Lescq Selection, importers: Martin Scott Wines Ltd., Little Neck, NY; tel. (718) 279-0808 and the Wine Cask, Santa Barbara, CA; tel. (800) 436-9463.