1999 Pavelot Gravains

• 1999 Domaine Jean-Marc Pavelot Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Gravains - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru (5/16/2008)
  Impressive aromatics of red fruits, crushed brick, and spice, with nice lift. The structure is still there, framing the wine, but the material itself is a bit diffuse; not as much depth or density as I would have liked. This bottle was clean, no rust or funk, and ready to go, though there's no rush.

thanks for the notes. The first vintage I ran across Pavelot, but all mine were drunk too early

Certainly no crime in that. I just found this recently, at Woodland Hills.

One of my favourite producer's, Jean-Marc Pavelot did extremely well in 1999, particularly with the wine I've written up below. If you can find any, don't hesitate to as much as you can afford.

Marc Pavelot Savigny-Les-Beaune Les Dominode 1999 en magnum - almost fotgot about this one! Truly Outstanding for its (lesser) station in life compared to some of the supposed big “guns”above. If anything, surpassed them! Very youthful, beautifully balanced, silky, great line - absolutely loved this, particularly the class of the fruit - and its got time on its side! 92

So as make sense of what I refer to as "big "guns" above" - these were the wines in question -

Meo-Camuzet Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Les Chaumes 1996 - Charming, svelte, sexy Pinot probably nearing its peak drinking window. NR but low nineties wine as a guide

Michel Lafarge Volnay Clos des Chenes 1993 - another gorgeous example very much in the style of the Meo-Camuzet, but if anything, a little better. Probably worth 94 points if you want a numerical value. A Burgundy that sang from start to finish. IMHO, the best Burgundy of the day - beating the other premier and grand crus!

Vachet-Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru 1993 - repeat performance from the night before -masculine, beefy palate, perhaps a little unready behind a quite lovely bouquet. 90

Frederic Esmonin Chambertin-Clos-des-Beze Grand Cru 1996 - another Outstanding Burg - having trouble with descriptors here and thus won’t point it but in the scheme of things I’d rate it between the Chaumes and the Lafarge, somewhere around the 91-92 points mark

I thought the Lafarge the only Burg that was better than the Pavelot on the day (my fiftieth!).

I would be curious about how Gravains and La Dominode compare. I haven't had a older version of the Dominode (which struck me as intense and black-fruited in 01 and 02 on release) or a younger version of the Gravains, which here ran to red fruits and was more elegant than I was expecting.

Michel Lafarge Volnay Clos des Chenes 1993 .

Just a great wine. I had at an offline in Tokyo, been looking, but price keeps going up. Out of my range now.

I would be curious about how Gravains and La Dominode compare. I haven't had a older version of the Dominode (which struck me as intense and black-fruited in 01 and 02 on release) or a younger version of the Gravains, which here ran to red fruits and was more elegant than I was expecting.

Cliff, I agree with your comparison. These are my favorite of JMP's line. Dominode has always struck me as having darker fruit, yet showing greater depth, then the more Volnay-like Gravains. The WHWC reload of the Pavelot wines was welcomed. I back filled on a few things including the '99 Gravains which I have yet to try...probably on it's 10th B-day.