Clean as a whistle, with crisp yet ripe red berries, and a smoke-minty-mineral complexity, this is really high quality for a village '00 red, especially from the C?te de Beaune. Serious winemaking in this dark-coloed Pinot, with charcoal and spicy notes on the finish. Drink now through 2005.??–PM??Region: France / Burgundy / Santenay Select to Add

Similarly colored, the Santenay Clos De La Confrerie offers violet and cherry aromas as well as a medium-bodied, highly structured, and powerful mineral and blackberry-flavored palate. The barrel sample I tasted appeared a touch tannic on the finish but I suspect this will be resolved before bottling. Anticipated maturity: now-2000. The score, on a range and in parentheses, indicates that the wine was tasted from barrel. Vincent Girardin's 1996s are generally fresher and more supple than his 1995s, but are not as concentrated or structured. Since he personally prefers softer styled wines, Girardin prefers the 1996 vintage. My feeling is that many of his 1995s will develop better over time than these delicious mid-term drinking wine. Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel (205) 980-8802

Produced from a monopole (solely owned vineyard), the ruby-colored Santenay Clos De La Confrerie offers black currant and sweet cherry aromas as well as a light-to-medium-bodied, well-defined, slightly rough, cassis and mineral-infused personality. While very good, it is Girardin's weakest wine and should be drunk before 1999. I was absolutely blown away by the quality of Vincent Girardin's red Cote de Beaunes at my April tasting in Washington. Whereas there is always an element of doubt concerning the end product when tasting out of barrel, what I saw from Girardin was already bottled and in retail stores throughout the US (all of them were tasted with the American importer and many were later re-tasted blind with other 95 Burgundies). These are superlative red burgundies with a superb rapport in quality and price. This estate's wines exhibit superb ripeness, outstanding balance, beautiful purity of fruit, extraordinarily well-integrated oak and tannin. In the top cuvees there is unsurpassed length. I know of no other producer/negociant in Burgundy that can deliver as broad a range of outstanding wines at such reasonable prices. Furthermore, Girardin, like Bernard Dugat in Gevrey-Chambertin, has worked hard to improve the quality of his wines. To top it all off, we can look forward to many more years of sublime wines from this estate/negociant as Girardin and his wife, Veronique, are quite young. If you love Burgundian reds, run, don't walk, to your wine merchant and purchase these dazzling wines. Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel (205) 980-8802.