The wine is Richebourg 1988, Domaine Leroy, bottle 1531 of 2292 bottles. I bought 2 bottles of this at auction in the early 1990s. It has been properly stored since. A back label says the wine has been treated in no way to avoid sediment, including filtering. Conditions for proper storage also are given, and the back label has a copy of Mme. Leroy's signature. This back label is in English. Since the wine was exported to the US from the UK, this back label might have been intended for the UK or US market, or both.
The cork was rather difficult to remove. The cork was very long and highly compressed. However it was still quite elastic after it was removed. The fill was as high as is safe for a new bottle of wine. It could not have decreased by much or any over about 20 years. There was no capsule, rather red sealing wax was used. This likely explains why the fill was still so high, as the hard wax forms a nearly vapor proof seal.
I had my doubts if this wine would yet be ready since many 1988s started out very hard and high in tannin. However the wine has now opened up, but I would not be surprised if it develops more complexity and intensity over at least 10-20 more years. The color was intense, but not too intense for a red Burgundy, scarlet with little indication of age. With the first sniff after pulling the cork, it was at once apparent that this was a top Burgundy. The bouquet is huge and jumps out of the glass. However it is very complex. You get all sorts of fruits such as red and dark cherries, plums, perhaps raspberries, etc. In addition there is a complex mixed oriental spice component. The wine is perfectly balanced, with just the right amount of acid, the tannins are now resolved, and the taste confirms what is suggested by the bouquet. Everything is very pure - no barnyard funk here. The aftertaste is exceptionally long. Just a drop or two remaining in an empty glass is easy to smell after a few hours.
Unfortunately I do not have the 1988 DRC Richebourg for direct comparison. However this Leroy Richebourg is better than any Richebourg I have had from DRC, but I have not had the very top Richebourgs from DRC. I have had DRC La Tache in several vintages, which many consider second only to Romanee-Conti in many years and perhaps first in a few years. I can say this Leroy Richebourg was only slightly behind the best of La Tache, and I have tasted La Tache 1959 and several of the better vintages of it since. It is too bad that Mme. Leroy can not get some La Tache grapes from a top year to see how the wine she would make compares with than from DRC, but of course DRC is not about to sell any of their La Tache grapes to Mme. Leroy or anyone else.
One has to wonder if the nearly perfect sealing wax seal allowed the Leroy 1988 to retain such pure fruit on comparison to cork with conventional capsule that does allow some exchange with the air as evidenced by the slow drop in level of the wine over the years. This sealing wax sealed bottle likely has had nearly no oxygen introduced since it was corked. Of course a screw cap might have the same effect, if it has a good enough seal and is designed to seal well for many decades.