The Pommard Cuvee Dames de la Charite (Hospices de Beaune) has a dark ruby color and a gorgeous bouquet of plummy ripe fruit. This fat, oily-textured, and medium-to-full-bodied wine is intense, fresh, and has a massively sweet core of cherries, black raspberries, and raspberries intermingled with abundant spicy oak. While well-crafted, it lacks the punch of Laurent's three previous wines and finishes on an excessively oaky and slightly rough (tannic) note. Anticipated maturity: 2001-2006. A Patrick Lesec Selection (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-42-84-38-22), various American importers (starting with the 1997 vintage Laurent will be represented by a number of US importers/brokers, including Lesec, Jeffrey Davies, and Martin-Scott.