The 1990 Clos de Bèze is another excellent 1990 from Charles Rousseau, and though it does not possess the haunting purity of this wine in vintages such as 1993 and 1996, it is still a very serious bottle of wine. The bouquet is a touch more “medicinal” than is the norm for this wine, offering up notes of bitter cherry, chocolate, a hint of prune, some orange rind, espresso, grilled meats, earth and toasty new oak on the nose. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep and lush, with good purity for the vintage, a rock solid core of fruit, plenty of ripe tannins, and great length and grip on the palate-staining finish. Again, I have to give it an ever so slight nod over the Chambertin in this vintage. (Drink between 2010-2040)

The ripe but not roasted nose is comprised by wonderfully complex aromatics of now entirely secondary fruit that is nuanced by notes of underbrush, earth, dried herbs and spice elements. There is still a bit of unresolved tannin to the still lightly structured medium-bodied flavors that possess very fine if not truly distinguished length on the otherwise well-balanced, rich and velvety finish. While the '90 Bèze is certainly drinking well today I wouldn't be inclined to hold it for the long-term as I sense that it may begin a graceful decline over the next 10 years. In sum, this would accurately be described as pretty rather than deep and while I have always enjoyed the '90 Bèze I find that it lacks the personality and refreshing punch of its '90 Chambertin stablemate (see herein). Multiple and mostly consistent notes of which the last was taken in 2011.