This wine is an exceptional value.The dark-colored 1999 Regnie Potet has a dark fruit and mocha-scented nose. Warm, plummy fruit can be found in its structured and firm personality. It is not an extroverted picnic or quaffing Beaujolais, but one that will require drinking with a meal. Anticipated maturity: 2001-2003. Importer: William Deutsch and Sons, White Plains, NY; tel (914) 251-WINE; fax (914) 251-0283; and Winesellers Ltd., Skokie, IL; tel (847) 679-0121; fax (847) 679-2017.

This medium ruby/purple-colored wine possesses black cherry and dark berry aromas. This fresh and lively wine offers a structured, slightly tannic, and medium-bodied core of "grapey" red fruit flavors. Anticipated maturity: 1999-2001. Georges Duboeuf loves the 1997 vintage in Beaujolais ("the wine is fat, round, and filled with tender fruit and elegance"). An extremely hot August was followed by a September of warm days and cool nights ("it was the finest September of my career") fashioning a fruit driven wine that has relatively low acidity levels - particularly when compared to the 1996s. Duboeuf believes, and I agree, that the 1997 is a wine that will be at its best early.In the past, the wine press has written that Duboeuf's use of an artificial yeast (71B) accounted for his signature style. In a conversation with him this year, I learned that he abandoned that strain of yeast after the 1990 vintage. Presently, a variety of yeasts, both indigenous and artificial, are used for fermentation. To Duboeuf, the key factor in the vinification of Beaujolais is temperature control, not yeasts.The high temperatures and the grapes' low acidity levels at harvest in 1997 demanded, in Duboeuf's opinion, extremely close attention. Rot, mildew and oidium were not problems (he says none existed), but warm, low acid environments encourage the unwarranted proliferation of bacteria, so Duboeuf had the grapes and musts cooled as soon as possible. To prevent the potential onset of ethyl acetate, he had eight filtration teams going from estate to estate with the necessary equipment to filter the wines as soon as malos were completed (the wines were later fined and filtered again prior to bottling).Duboeuf informed me that the world-wide rise in wine prices did not go unnoticed by vignerons in Beaujolais. Consumers should brace themselves for a 25-30% increase with the 1998 vintage.Importers William Deutsch and Sons, Ltd., Armonk, NY; tel (914) 273-1221; fax (914) 273-1291, and Winesellers Ltd., Skokie, IL; tel (847) 679-0121; fax (847) 679-2017. (Reviewed by P. A. Rovani)

Needs 6-8 more months bottle age; exhibits sweet red and blackcurrant fruit, an old vine intensity, medium body, good acidity, punch, and length; drink well for 2-3 yearsImported by William Deutsch, Armonk, NY; Tel. (914) 273-1221; fax (914) 273-1291

The Regnie Domaine du Potet is a brilliant example of Beaujolais, with gobs of black-raspberry fruit, admirable density, medium to full body, and a velvety texture with just enough acidity for balance. Georges Duboeuf's wines are represented on the East Coast by W.J. Deutsch & Sons, Ltd., Armonk, NY; tel. (914) 273-1221, fax (914) 273-1291, and on the West Coast by Winesellers Ltd., Skokie, IL,; tel (708) 679-0121, fax (708) 679-2017.

The 1994 Regnie Domaine du Potet exhibits a sweeter, more curranty nose than the comparably rated Regnie Flower Label, and a hint of what the French call "sur-maturite" (overripeness), combined with intensity, a sense of balance and harmony. This attractive, fat, jammy wine is neither heavy nor overbearing. Drink it over the next 1-2 years.