This intense and expressive wine displays a ruby color as well as bacon fat and blackberry aromas. It is juicy, seductive, medium-bodied, oily-textured, and resplendent with roast pork, sweet plum, red currant, and ripe cherry flavors. Delicious to drink now, it should easily hold through 2002. Bruno Clair described this vintage as abundant (he says his Marsannays averaged 40-45 hectoliters/hectare and his other vineyards averaged yields in the 35-40 h/h range) and perfectly healthy as not a trace of rot was spotted. He went on to say that his '96s have as much as 4 grams per liter of acid, the highest level he has ever seen in Burgundy. Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel (205) 980-8802.