Latricieres Chambertin		1971	Dom. Camus

9/97. Bought in Chicago Dec-96 for $82 (imported for $92 net).
I bought this wine as a curio. There are few grand domaines in Burgundy that are almost unanimously scorned by all wine critics as Domaine Camus. When the bottle arrived a few weeks ago, I was really dismayed by its looks. The worst looking bottle of wine I've ever seen. Fill was about 2 inches below the cork, the label was almost dark black and indecipherable without putting it under a strong direct light. The wine itself thru the bottle looked ugly light brown. In short, when we decided to open it tonight I took out another wine as a backup in case.
COLOR: Light brown in the middle, quickly clearing towards rim. As unappetizing looking wine as one can think of. Tons of sediment.
NOSE: Fantastic! Like an essence of a grand old (B). Deep, complex 'Bourgogne Nose', sweet candy, dried plums, some green-olives tones and even discernible red fruit. A little too much sour elements on the nose but beautifully enticing nevertheless.
TASTE: Over acidity felt much more on the palate than on the nose. Hot, alcoholic yet totally integrated in the mouth. Reasonable 'winyness', rich but not too concentrated, devoid of tannins. Excellent flavors and extremely interesting though not straight forward tasty.
LENGTH: Medium long hot aftertaste.
TEXTURE & BALANCE: Obviously past its peak. Good fruit, some concentration, too much acidity, too little tannins. Lacks balance.
OVERALL: Excellent old wine in spite of the winemaking! The Grand Cru vineyard and the wonderful vintage seem to have compensated for the lack of balance and concentration.
MARK: 17+/20.aaaaaaaaBUY MORE? No.

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Copyright 1996-2003.
Jacob "Yak" Shaya.