Domaine Robert Groffier Chambolle Musigny Les Sentiers Premier Cru 1998

It must be impossible to praise Groffier’s wines in a way that hasn’t been done before. In every recent vintage, this domaine has produced complex, delicious, lushly textured wines that are immediately appealing, but also have the balance to improve for many years. So it was no surprise that in the 6th Edition of Parker’s Wine Buyer’s Guide, Groffier was ranked as one of the top four Burgundy producers of the late 1990s. While Robert and his son Serge let their grapes ripen longer than most producers, their methods are traditional. They severely limit yields and then meticulously sort the grapes after harvest. There is no strict formula for new oak or the amount of time each wine spends in barrel. They check the wines regularly during every stage of development and let their palates guide them. Domaine Groffier also owns some fantastic vineyards and they really maximize the quality by using the Cordon Royat method of training the vines. This increasingly rare technique reduces yields and produces very concentrated grapes. The two Grand Crus are always some of the top representations of their respective vineyards. Groffier also owns the largest single parcel of the unofficial Grand Cru Chambolle “Les Amoureuses.” Even the Bourgogne comes from superior vineyards – one parcel is next to the Grand Cru Clos Vougeot and the other is adjacent to the vineyards of Morey-St-Denis.