Over Christmas I had the opportunity to open some older bottles (not the ones above!) from my cellar in Maine (we live in Belgium but 99% of my wine is stored in Maine). With glee and anticipation I uncorked several 95 and 96 red burgs and a couple 2000 white burgs. Unfortunately all but one (out of 7) met expectations, the rest were duds...Ug!

The best bottle was a 2000 Chassagne-Montrachet, 1er Cru "Les Ruchottes" from Dom. Ramonet. It was stellar, bursting with tension and complexity and not quite mature. (A second bottle was horribly corked) But the rest were just not good.

A 96 Savigny-Les-Beaune, 1er Cru, Les Serpentieres (Dom Ecard) was maderized and a second bottle was a bit better but tasting much older than its 11 years. A ‘95 Morey-St-Denis, (Dom F Magnien) was also flat and older than it should have been. The biggest loss was a 96 Nuits-St Georges 1er Cru "Les Cailles" (Dom Chevillon). It too tasted 30 years old.

Was it the cellar, I thought? Very doubtful as the temp ranges from 45 - 65F, but gently over the course of the year. All wines were bought upon release. The Savignys were from the same store and importer, so I'll watch out for that combination in the future, but the Nuits should have been better.

One surprisingly good red bug was a 96 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru (Dom Bertagna). It was brimming with life and fruit. Very pure and delicious. A pleasant surprise from a bottle I had had in the cellar for 8+ years but without much prejudice.

Lessons learned? Drink up or buy better domaines...hard to say, but it's probably "drink up". Stay tuned I may change my mind......