Thirty five years on.

Tile-tinged ruby moving toward garnet at the rim, clearly entering its tertiary register yet retaining striking vitality. The nose is immediately expressive, ripe cherry and redcurrant interwoven with blackcurrant, game, venison jus, cinnamon stick, eucalyptus lift, damp earth and forest undergrowth. There’s a savory umami depth, mushroom and woodland tone, that signals maturity without any sense of decline.

On the palate, the defining characteristic is harmony. The fruit remains fresh and precisely judged in ripeness, neither loud nor fading, supported by a seamless, well-defined structure. Texturally, this is silken, polished, effortless, and complete. The balance is what elevates it, acidity, tannin, fruit, and tertiary complexity are in equilibrium, giving both persistence and poise.

Now firmly edging into its tertiary phase at three+ decades on, it delivers profound pleasure without heaviness. A fantastic bottle from an often underappreciated vintage, standing confidently alongside more celebrated years. Persistent, composed, and deeply satisfying. A great ’91, I prefer it the ’90, but it doesn’t have that vintage’s staying power. Last bottle on a case. Now – 2035+.

This is the domaine’s flagship grand cru, sourced from its sizeable 3.2 ha holding on meagre clay with limestone scree over a Premeaux and Comblanchien limestone base, planted at 11,000 vines per hectare and cropped to around 30 hl per hectare from vines over 65 years old. Hand-harvested and sorted, the fruit is fully destemmed and fermented with native yeasts in temperature-controlled wooden vats, then aged for 18 months in French oak with zero new barrels (average barrel age about 20 years), a signature choice that keeps the wine’s scale and detail anchored in terroir rather than élevage.