While similarly-styled to the 2000, the 1999 Ermitage Chante Alouette is less voluminous and expansive. A tell-tale nose of mineral, chalk, white flowers, and honeyed citrus is followed by a powerful, concentrated wine with good acidity, distinctive liquid minerality, and a full-bodied, powerful finish. As this viscous, concentrated wine sat in the glass, Alsatian Riesling-like petroleum notes made an appearance. Importer: Paterno Imports, Lake Bluff, IL; tel. (847) 604-89000

A big, fat, rich wine from the Hermitage vineyards of Chapoutier. The fruit is certainly ripe—perhaps excessively ripe—but the wine is still very young, closed up with firmness and a taste of bitter almonds. It should certainly improve over the next four or five years, but it will always be about power rather than finesse. ——R.V.(6/1/2002)—— 89