The 1996 St.-Joseph Le Grand Pompee exhibits a lively, peach-scented and flavored personality, with medium body, tangy acidity, and good purity. Gerard Jaboulet told me this was the first vintage of Le Grand Pompee for which malolactic was done because of the extremely high acidity in the grapes. It is best drunk over the next 2-3 years. The northern Rhone 1996 whites offer a rare combination of high acidity and ripe fruit - at least for those producers who kept yields down. Where greedy growers tried to maximize production, the results are white wines that are high in acidity and low in flavor. All of Jaboulet's 1996s were ripe, with good underlying acidity, and plenty of fresh fruit. Importer: Frederick Wildman, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700