In tasting the 1987s, one could easily see that these wines are impenetrable when young, very hard, very tannic, yet concentrated, full and rich. These wines are not meant to be seductive young, so I asked if it would be possible to taste some of the older vintages from both mediocre and good years. The results were impressive.
Judging by the old vintages, these are wines that keep for a long time. Of course, they are not for everybody, and those who want to drink their burgundy within the first decade of the vintage might as well stop reading this section. I am sure Doudet-Naudin considers it to be infanticide to open one of their wines before it is at least 10 years old. It seems the only compromise made to modern technology by this firm is their decision to filter. This does not make any sense, given the rest of the vinification process. Nevertheless, they do filter, although they still seem to get plenty of extract and character in the wines. Most of this firm's small production is sold in England and Switzerland. Their 1987 specialties are wines from the Cte de Beaune. If you are willing to wait 10 to 15 years, you cannot go wrong this wine. I am sure my score will be perceived as conservative should anyone read them in 15 years.