1999 Domaine Anne Gros, Richebourg Grand Cru, Bottle (750ml)

There is still relatively prominent wood framing the wonderfully spicy black pinot fruit and ripe cherry-suffused nose where additional notes of Asian-style tea, violet and lavender add breadth. The big-bodied and reasonably concentrated flavors display plenty of verve and power along with really lovely complexity on the velvety yet still quite firm finish that delivers very good if not truly outstanding length due to a touch of backend dryness. As impressive as this is, it's not really my style in that the wood is a bit too evident for my taste; that said, this is high-quality effort that is not quite at its peak though not so far away that it couldn't be enjoyed now. I would add that I have had mildly inconsistent experiences with the '99 Riche as my scores have ranged from 92 to 94 as the dryness I reference is more apparent in some bottles.
Domaine Anne Gros, Richebourg Grand Cru