Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue, Musigny Grand Cru, Cuvee Vieilles Vignes 1990

This wine demands another 6-7 years of cellaring. Oddly, about three years ago it was giving signs of maturing quickly, but it has now completely shut down. The Bordeaux-like, saturated dense ruby/purple color is followed by a tight-fisted nose and flavors of black fruits, underbrush, minerals, smoke, and new oak. Although extremely concentrated, the wine is broodingly backward, and not fun to drink ... yet. This loaded effort should prove to be one of the longest-lived red Burgundies made in the last twenty years. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2025.

The 1990 Musigny Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru has always been a controversial wine. This is my fourth bottle and I continue to side with those that feel it was overhyped on initial release. It comes across as a ham-fisted wine. For a start, it has an archetypal dead fruit nose, drained of vigour and energy, sultry with cedar and burnt toast, as if aping a Bordeaux. The palate is dense and excessively tannic. It still has a vice-like grip, yet it is bereft of tension and precision, leaden towards the finish. I have never liked what ought to have been a great Musigny and touted as such in some quarters. Now at 28 years old, it is not going to get any better. Tasted at the La Paulée in Beaune.