The 1996 Richebourg Grand Cru is drinking beautifully and might actually surpass La Tâche in this vintage; certainly, I have yet to drink a 1996 La Tâche as good as this particular bottle of Richebourg. Wafting from the glass with an inviting bouquet of plummy fruit mingled with wilted rose petals, peonies, exotic spices, orange rind and forest floor, it's full-bodied, fleshy and enveloping, with none of the vintage's tendency toward asperity in evidence, exhibiting melting tannins and a seamless, velvety profile. This is really beginning to show well today.

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(with thanks to Bruce Khouri). A gorgeously spicy and expressive nose consists of mostly black fruit and floral aromas that are beginning to display some secondary character. There is good richness but also good precision to the still relatively tight medium full and still noticeably structured flavors that possess an impressively long though slightly edgy and austere finish. While this could certainly be drunk now I would strongly recommend decanting it for at least 30 minutes first. Better still would be to allow this another 5 to 7 years of bottle age as the '96 Riche easily has 20 year+ potential though I have my doubts as to whether this is ever going to completely harmonize, indeed I would go so far as to bet against it. Tasted on multiple occasions with consistent notes save for one recent bottle tasted in Burgundy that seemed markedly more advanced than the others.

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