Top Rated 1999 Red Burgundy

This is a delicious crop of red Burgundies in spite of very high crop levels. The best of these succulent, well-balanced wines should enjoy a slow evolution in bottle thanks to their adequate acidity levels and thoroughly ripe phenolic material. Tannins are generally firm but rarely hard or dry. This vintage may well have produced the finest crop of young Cote de Beaune reds I've ever tasted. They are fleshy, ripe, fresh and elegant, so complete and complex that they approach Cote de Nuits wines in quality. Beaune and Volnay were especially successful--in fact, I can't recall when I was more struck by the quality of wines from Beaune. On the Cote de Nuits, wines from Vosne-Romanee shows enticing floral perfume and definition. Nuits-Saint-Georges and Chambolle-Musigny are also strong, suggesting that the southern portion of the Cote de Nuits slightly outperformed the northern half. But there are outstanding wines to be found in every village.