1996 Paul Pernot Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

A gorgeous white flower, citrus peel and honeysuckle nose that now displays some secondary influence introduces detailed, precise and naturally sweet flavors that offer outstanding length and the old vines deliver a more concentrated mouth texture than most wines of the vintage. A lovely effort that is drinking perfectly now though should continue to do so for many years to come. Consistent notes with no premox issues for this wine until the most recent bottle which was completely premoxed through and through.

It is not often where one goes to a dinner with two bottles of 1996 white Burgundy in the lineup and hits two fresh and tasty bottles, but that was exactly our luck on this particular evening. This vibrant and nicely evolved bottle of the 1996 Paul Pernot Bienvenues was completely untouched by premox and offers up a bright and complex bouquet of pear, apple, chalky soil tones, a bit of toasted almond, white flowers and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and à point, with a good core, fine focus and grip and a long, well-balanced and vibrant finish. Good juice, but not quite as complex as I might have anticipated at this stage of its development, based on how beautiful it was in in the first blush of youth back in the late 1990s. But, still fresh and extant and that is something in this age of premox!