Tasted in Vosne-Romanée with Michel Gros, 27 November 2018.

Domaine Michel Gros
7 Rue des Communes
21700 Vosne-Romanée
Tel: +33 3 80 61 04 69
www.domaine-michel-gros.com

Michel on 2017:
“A year that finished really well, the start was more stressful though as we worried about the possibility of frost like in 2016. In June it was very warm, 2°C more than the average and very nice weather, which explains the volume a little as the flowering passed very easily. But it’s important not to forget the low volumes that came before 2017. We had great conditions to mature the grapes – it was dry, so we had the perfect sanitary conditions, so good degrees of alcohol and fine maturity were the result – even in the Hautes Côtes too.

“I started harvesting 09 September, finishing 15 September in the Hautes Côtes – but we had to go fast as the maturity came very quickly.​”

The wines…

Michel has found plenty of concentration and good energy for his 2017s – the Clos des Réas is a stunner this year!

2017 Hautes Côtes de Nuits Fontaine St.Martin
Big foudres used for the first 6 months of elevage, followed by 12 months in barrel then 2 more in tank with a egg-white fining before bottling.
A depth of aroma – intense and high-toned. Round, dark fruited, tasty wine with plenty of depth to the flavour – modestly touched with tannin at the end. Nicely long.

2017 Nuits St.Georges Les Chaillots
Just under 1er Poirets, the name relates to the flints in the soil – very rare in the côtes.
A little fumé from the oak. Wide, silky texture, slowly growing with a touch of tannin and a depth of concentrated flavour – very clean. Hmm, delicious, concentrated wine.

2017 Vosne-Romanée
3 parcels totalling about 1 hectare.
A little more high tones here, some flowers and a generous depth of fruit aroma. Fuller, mouth-filling wine. Open, easy, long and tasty.

2017 Chambolle-Musigny
4 different parcels adding up to 0.7 hectares
A faint oak fumé, a deep nose, not opening much to start but then there is an element of floral. In the mouth too this is floral-inflected but this is also a seriously big wine, not perturbed by a touch gas. A good wine, and a bigger wine than the Vosne.

2017 Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Brûlées
Vines that sit next to Richebourg. Half new oak.
Some gas. It’s a tight nose. Lovely volume in the mouth, as overtly concentrated as the Chambolle but with a little more gas. Ooh now that’s a seriously great mid and finishing flavour. Long too – I’ll take an extra big glass of this – it’s excellent!

2017 Clos de Vougeot
All new oak and it shows on the nose, but it’s spiced rather than fumé. Plenty of gas, mouth-filling volume, an open architecture to the shape, complex, wide, more mouth-watering complexity. Long. Excellent CV!