1996 Henri Rebourseau Chambertin Grand Cru

1996 Henri Rebourseau Chambertin Grand Cru

CLEAN, PURE & READY
Not many Chambertin impressed me in the past, some makers are big or too bold. This Henri Rebouseau was surprisingly good.
Very clean on the palate, I can feel no funky tastes, except with some howthorn tastes.
The purity was quite stunning, at the top level of Chambertin I would expect such character, unfortunately not many producers possessed such skill of producing pure fruits.
As it's from 1996, a vintage that's not quite ready, I was surprised this wine was so approachable.

31 Mar 2016
PUZZLED
I have only drank the top level Chambertin before, eg, Bouchard, Rousseau, never had any other Chambertin before, so my benchmark was high. But now I have to lower it that this Grand Cru plot perhaps should be awarded to labels and not to the appellation!
This was definitely not a Grand Cru that I expected: extremely ripe fruit nose, mingled with woody barrel smell. Palate was huge, took almost 2 hours to wake up, was jumbo on fruits. By no means elegance, that's why I don't understand the plot.