Vosne-Romanée: Village Profile

Update 28.4.2020(5.9.2006)billn

vosne

Vosne-Romanée holds an exalted status in the minds of burgundy ‘worshipers’ – in this context I use the term, worshiper assuredly – any day of the week, rain or shine, you will see a steady flow of worshippers making a pilgrimage up a bumpy road that is barely wide enough for their car, to have long-suffering wives (usually, but not always) take their photo next to a stone plaque in a low wall; a plaque that bears the name Romanée-Conti. The flow of people is so high that this year the domaine has placed a notice on the same wall asking people to respect the vineyard and keep out of it!

1. Romanée-Conti
2. Clos de Vougeot
3. La Tâche
4. Richebourg
5. Romanée
6. Chambertin
7. Musigny
8. Le Clos de Tart
9. Corton (a part)
10. Saint-Georges (Nuits)

Of-course the village is not only about one vineyard, perfectly demonstrated if we look to the 1913 classification of the Côte d’Or vineyards by Monsieur Raymond Brunet (A Travers les Grandes Vignobles) – whose work had more than a passing nod to the earlier work of Jules Lavalle – he ranked his top ten red wine vineyards from one to ten. Of the top five, remarkably only one lay outside the borders of Vosne, and that was the second placed Clos de Vougeot at which time had only 15 proprietors – though a mere 20 years earlier (from which most of its esteem was doubltlessly based) it was still under a single ownership – a monopole. For the record, his top 10 are shown in the table, right:

As you will by-now have noted, not for nothing is Vosne-Romanée known as the ‘the pearl of the Côte’. Recieving its AOC on the 11th September 1936, Vosne-Romanée today covers just over 200 hectares of vineyards that nestle between Nuits St.Georges and Flagey-Echézeaux – in 1861 only 167 hectares had such a classification.

From a historical perspective, it’s impossible to talk about Vosne-Romanée without reference to the Abbey of Saint-Vivant and the Croonembourg family. That the Abbey of Saint-Vivant also controlled the next-door village of Flagey-Echézeaux and because it’s premier cru vineyards are also called Vosne-Romanée is reason enough for me to include them in this profile.

Records suggest that Vosne certainly existed as a village in the sixth century though the spelling of ‘Vosne’ was often changed. In 890 the priory of Saint-Vivant which was to be linked to so many of Vosne’s vineyards was established by Manassès the 1st and his wife Hermengarde – Manassès was vassal to Richard the Justiciery, but a very high-powered vassal, as between them they owned most of Burgundy! The priory which was subordinate to the priory of Vergy (itself part of the Cluniac order) started with 28 people before eventually losing both its status and lands during the revolution. During the twelfth century the lands dependant on the village of Flagey-Echézeaux and the village itself came into the possession of the abbey. What the abbey didn’t own was mainly in the possession of the Croonembourg family, indeed it was the Croonembourgs that sold in 1760 the vines which would one day be called Romanée-Conti to Jean-François Joly who was acting for the Prince de Conti. The ruins of the abbey are slowly being restored and still form a vital part of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s work, as the latest vintage is usually housed there until the previous years is bottled.

Not until 1866 was Romanée appended to Vosne, the new name was part hommage, part marketing and without doubt brought (indeed still brings) an extra level of cachet or recognisability to ‘Vosne’ and its ‘average’ wine. Some people ask why append the name Romanée – as in La Romanée – rather than Romanée-Conti?: Setting aside the less sonorous qualities of Vosne-Conti or Vosne-Romanée-Conti, the vineyard known today as Romanée-Conti only took that name in 1764 – for many years before, it was simply known as ‘Romanée’.

In 1797 the last Abbot of Saint-Vivant died – François Trouvé – his body rests in the church of Vosne. Vosne has known plenty of hard times, either from pestilence or war it sits on a knife-edge of boom or bust; amongst others there was great suffering due to the Austrian occupation of 1814-15, and again around 1870 due to a nearby battle during the Franco-Prussian war. Phylloxera followed, as did the two world wars – it is only the last 1-2 generations that have seen some consistent reward – particularly the current generation, though the next ‘pest’ could be just around the corner…

vosne romanee

The village itself always appears very quiet; a worker here or there, walking up the small incline towards the vineyards though most do this in white vans or on their giraffe-like tractors. Vosne-Romanée actually straddles the Route Nationale 74, though only a few houses are to be found on the eastern side of the road, and none of the vines are classed as ‘Vosne-Romanée’. On the western side of the road, there are few domaines of repute – e.g. Robert Arnoux and also a new hotel; Le Richebourg. Working your way up the incline you will pass diverse architecture – grand houses are dotted between much humbler dwellings. Approaching the heart of the village – which officially (I suppose) should be the open square in front of the large ‘Marie’ – you are already bordering the vines; Chaumes to your left and the Clos des Réas behind you. Look directly at the Marie (pictured above) and you have a choice of route; to the left is the road that will take you up the Route des Grands Crus, to the right a road that passes the Château de Vosne-Romanée of Domaine Comte Liger-Belair that comes to the church square and the main bus-stop – this, to me, feels more like the village centre.

The A-Z of Premier Cru Vineyards:

vosne romanee

Les Beaux Monts or Beaumonts
The spelling is rather variable, frankly, the wines can be too. The altitude is quite high and there are more than a few weedy or simply uninspiring wines; not that this wine doesn’t have the opportunity to excel, bordering as it does the grand cru of Echézeaux, albeit above. Beaux Monts covers a little over 11 hectares that cross between the notional boundaries of Vosne and Flagey, and can be further subdivided into Beaux Monts, Les Hautes Beaux Monts, Les Beaux Monts Hauts(?) and Les Beaux Monts Bas. A good bottle has a high-toned perfume and a relaxed but complex demeanour, perhaps less dense than wines from lower down the slope.
Good producers for Beaux Monts: Domaine Bertagna, Bruno Clavelier, Leroy. Good producers for Beaumonts: Recent Hudelot-Noëllats, Louis Jadot, if funds are no barrier Henri Jayer or slightly easier on the credit-card is Emmanuel Rouget’s follow-up.

Aux Brûlées
This wonderfully sited vineyard runs about half the length of the Veroilles section of Richebourg, extending further up the slope but separated by only a notional boundary. At the highest part of the slope the name changes to la Combe Brûlée which covers about 40% of the 4.5 hectare total, you can find bottlers e.g. Pascal Chevigny who chose to label as Combe Brûlée. The style of the wine is often quite mineral with a streak of spicy black fruit, the name implies that this might be a hot area of the hill, but it doesn’t seem to translate into a specially ripe aspect when compared to its near neighbours.
Great producers of Brûlées include: René Engel, Domaine Leroy and Domaine Méo-Camuzet

Les Chaumes
This vineyard might ‘only’ cover ~6.5 hectares, but seems to have one of the longest lists of owners. Maybe it’s the number of owners or maybe its because it’s the first in this list that sits at the bottom of the slope where the soil is much deeper, but it’s hard to find really good bottles. The profile of the wine is often a little plummy and less spicy and focused than most of the other premier crus. I’m currently finding Comte Liger-Belair’s to be a lovely wine, though his tiny parcel of vines do border La Tâche! Daniel Rion also produces a nice bottle as does d’Ardhuy in recent vintages.

Cros Parantoux
The renown of this vineyard can only be associated with one person; Henri Jayer. After the second world war he single-handedly cleared the one hectare of overgrown scrub, rocks and even vegetable gardens to plant the vines. Despite sitting directly above Richebourg, pre-phylloxera Cros Parantoux had a poor reputation (Lavalle), on the same level as other vineyards that are today classed as ‘villages’. The ground was hard to work and so, post-phylloxera, this poorly rated piece of land was little replanted. Jayer, saw something and piece by piece bought all the separate plots from their then owners. Jayer did not really reach the heights of winemaking until the 1970’s, probably due to a mixture of finding the best approach and finally the vines coming of age – or at least the earlier wines don’t seem to exist anymore for comparison. Parantoux today has two owners/exploiters; Méo-Camuzet and Emmanuel Rouget through his retired uncle by marriage, Henri Jayer who we sadly lost just before the 2006 harvest.

La Croix Rameau
This tiny vineyard, only 0.6 hectares, was once part of a much loftier appellation – Romanée Saint-Vivant – but it seems that this sub-division was always regarded as being of inferior quality to the rest. Location probably has the most influence here, La Croix Rameau is in the flat of the land on the edge of village, way below most of the 1er cru vineyards and even below the level of many villages Vosnes. Today there are few bottles to be seen, the best-known are Lamarche and Cacheux, in recent vintages probably Lamarche being the most consistent bottling.

Les Gaudichots
If La Croix Rameau is the tiniest premier cru, then Les Gaudichots, the next smallest, is perhaps the most complex and interesting – perhaps bewildering is the better adjective. There are a limited number of producers that bottle this wine each year and they can be very hard to find – or in some cases even to get allocations of. You see, Les Gaudichots was until 1932 very much larger, that was when the lion’s share of the vineyard was reclassified as grand cru – and La Tâche grand cru at that – more about that in that section! What now remains of Les Gaudichots are three tiny, unconnected areas of vines that all retain the same name, hence, the adjective bewildering. Régis Forey consistently makes a relatively good bottle, but I often find the presentation a little muddy so I’d put Nicolas Potel’s rather more sought-after négociant bottling ahead – unfortunately chez Potel there is often only one barrel to go round.

Les Malconsorts
What’s in a name? It is said that Malconsorts was first planted only ~1610 – quite late for the village. Perhaps the name implies a poor impression of its standing next-to the rest of Vosne ‘royalty’. Stand at the top of Malconsorts and you feel quite high-up, you also get a great view of the other vineyards and the village of Vosne-Romanée below you. Sandwiched between La Tâche and the border to the appellation of Nuits St.Georges there’s no surprise that Malconsorts can be a big and structured wine, and just now and then, it can be almost as wonderfully complex as its famous grand cru neighbour. Despite its healthy 5.86 hectares, there are relatively few owners of these vines and not ones with a great reputation. Bichot and Thomas were the main owners and suppliers to many other bottlers but quality was not really a ‘given’. Sylvain Cathiard has been the reference point since the late 1990’s, Bichot has improved considerably since 2000 whereas the beefy wines of Domaine Thomas (Moillard) who were the largest owners, really needed at least 10 years to start making any sense and 15+ was preferable. With the 2005 vintage the Thomas vines were sold to Domaine de Montille and Domaine Dujac. With these vines we also have another Les Gaudichots moment; one small (0.50 hectares) part of Malconsorts is almost entirely enclosed by the vines of La Tâche – this will now be separately bottled by de Montille.

Au-Dessus des Malconsorts
Rarely seen on a label as it can ‘simply’ can it take the better-known label of Les Malconsorts, as some suggest – I think not. The small (1 hectare) area of vines sit below Malconsorts ‘proper’ and just south of La Tâche – almost mid-slope La Tâche. I only know (since 1999) Remoriquet in Nuits and Dominique Mugneret in Vosne who take the label.

Clos des Réas
A triangular vineyard with ostentatiously large walls forming two sides, yet for no apparent reason completely open on the third ‘side’ where the ground quickly falls away to the villages appellation of Aux Réas. The Clos is a monopole of Domaine Bernard Gros and with the exception of La Croix Rameau is the lowest-lying 1er cru designated land in Vosne. Despite deeper soil at the bottom of the Vosne hill than the top, this wine remains relatively fine and usually embodies understated complexity rather than density. The oak is quite apparent when newly bottled chez Gros, but allow 5-7 years in bottle and it is typically consumed.

Les Petits Monts
Set quite high up on the Vosne hillside and encircled by Richebourg, Cros Parantoux and Aux Reignots, for such a wonderfully sited vineyard it doesn’t seem to get all that much press. There are quite some owners here too; close to 20 – and that’s despite there being only a little under 3.7 hectares of vines – perhaps that’s why you don’t see it so often as the plots are so small. The best Petits Monts tend to be rather haunting and complex, they are not ‘blockbusters’, rather wines of finesse, and that’s despite sitting just above the powerhouse that is Richebourg. Just occasionally Petits Monts can come close to the quality of a good (if not a great) Richebourg – here I’m thinking of the 1999 bottle from Veronique Drouhin whose wine is usually near the top of the pile from this appellation. Others that are worth your time are supremely elegant négoce wine of Nicolas Potel, and the slightly more powerful wine of Pascal Chevigny. For 2006 I look forward to the (very small volume) wine of Comte Liger-Belair.

Aux Reignots
This vineyard commences with a geological fault at the top of La Romanée and extends steeply higher. There are faults in the ground allowing the roots to reach many metres of depth, hence, even in 2003 there was little dehydration in this vineyard. The vines of Liger-Belair (who owns about 45% of the vineyard) run all the way from the bottom to the top of the vineyard, whereas the other owners; Cathiard (top), Grivot (middle) and Arnoux (bottom) have significant differences in altitude – of these three, only Arnoux touches (like Liger-Belair) on La Romanée. The Bouchard P&F label has always been a decent bottle, but 2002 onwards has seen a gradual improvement due to the vineyard management of Louis-Michel Liger-Belair. I think of Reignots as a brooding, imposing wine, often with black-shaded fruit. I’ve never tried the Grivot wine and my experience of Cathiard and Arnoux have shown little commonality between those wines – good as they are!

Les Suchots
Les Suchots is easily the largest of the premier crus with over 13 hectares of vines. As you might expect with such a large vineyard, there is a very long list of owners – perhaps this is the reason that, despite being sited between Richebourg, Romanée Saint-Vivant and Echézeaux, this wine has often been a little thin and disappointing. In recent years Pascal Lacheaux of Domaine Robert Arnoux has almost single-handedly put this cru on the map. The négociant offering of Potel likewise ‘cycles’ between good and excellent. A good Suchots can be a very concentrated wine when in the hands of Arnoux, but typically it distinguishes itself by the wonderful depth of its red-fruit nose. The wine of Sylvain Cathiard is also starting to appreciate in value…

The A-Z of Grand Cru Vineyards:

Echézeaux
The topography of this ridiculously large grand cru is as variable as its 10 lieu-dits – each of which is bigger than some of its Vosne 1er cru neighbours. At close to 38 hectares this is a monster of a grand cru, and just like its ‘near size’ grand cru cousins the Clos de Vougeot and Corton, there is little that is consistent about the wines of this appellation. Dips, humps, compressions and sometimes (almost) excavations are filled with vines; couple this to a list of bottlers/producers as long as your arm and you will be in for a rough ride. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti exploit one of the largest parcels and equally produce one of the highlights of that appellation; this bottle has but one disadvantage – it is usually tasted in the company of the rest of the domaine’s wines, rather than in the company of other Echézeaux – in the latter case it would invariably shine. If I were to look at other consistent sources of good bottles, I would suggest Bizot and Mugneret-Gibourg, recent bottles from David Duband have also been quite interesting.

Grands-Echézeaux
As vineyards go, Grands-Echézeaux is actually a little disappointing; there are many fine and imposing gnarled old vines throughout its 9.1 hectares, but topographically there’s not much to say, rather-like some after-thought, these vines all lie outside the walls of the Clos de Vougeot and by comparison seem to lack a little identity. Musigny (almost) similarly sits outside the Clos, but by lying above seems to confer an element of superiority, at least together with its own walls – which GE lacks. If this impression infers some inferiority then it’s only in the mind, as the average Grands-Echézeaux is rather superior to the average Clos de Vougeot, in fact the average Grands-Echézeaux is still one of the best wines of the Côte de Nuits. This is not just about terroir, it’s as much about the quality of the main producers; Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Joseph Drouhin and until 2004 René Engel, Nicolas Potel’s négociant bottling also regularly gets an honourable mention. Where a Richebourg impresses with density and power, Grands-Echézeaux impresses with transparency and stunning aromatics.

La Grand Rue
La Grande Rue only joined the Grand Cru ‘club’ in the early 1990’s. Some say it was because the wine wasn’t good enough before, others say it was down to the personality of the owner who didn’t want to join the club. If location is our only guide, then this could only be a piece of grand cru soil, wedged as it is between La Romanée and La Romanée-Conti on one side, and La Tâche on the other. It is a monopole of Domaine Lamarche. I have tasted the wine only twice – both were bottles from the 1980s and neither shined. Whilst a notch or two below the wines I mentioned above, the recent scores I’ve seen for this wine have been ‘on the up’. Perhaps a visit is called-for.

Richebourg
Given the relative scarcity of this cru it’s hard to believe that at 8 hectares, the vineyard covers even more area than La Tâche. It was once much smaller but there was an adjoining climat called Les Véroilles – old texts even refer to the Clos des Véroilles – that was until a court case brought by the proprietors of the Domaine de la Romanée Conti showed that wine from Véroilles had been labelled and sold as Richebourg for years, and more importantly fetched the same price. Véroilles from that date was officially incorporated into Richebourg. The wine is deep dense and intense, vs the other grand crus of Vosne it is easy to anthropomorphise as a ‘masculine’ wine. Given the area covered, there are relatively few owners in Richebourg – very few indeed if you lump together all those with the name Gros! 40% of the vineyard is owned by the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and as one would expect, this is a reference example. The best value wine was made by Mongeard-Mugneret but they were producing under a métayage agreement – it will be interesting to see how the bottles compare now that the vines have returned to their owners – the Nuits Domaine of Thibault Liger-Belair.

La Romanée
The smallest AOC in France at just 0.84 hectares. Lying just a little higher on the hillside it is separated from Romanée-Conti by a meandering track that is just wide enough for a tractor. Today the obvious difference to Romanée-Conti is that the rows of vines run perpendicular to Romanée-Conti’s – it is said that the strip of land would otherwise have been too narrow to accommodate a tractor’s turning circle. For a generation the vineyard tending and management was done by the Forey family of Vosne-Romanée and the commercialisation by Bouchard Père et Fils, both on behalf of the owners – the Liger-Belair Family. Since about 2001 there has been a gradual transition to the management of Louis-Michel Liger-Belair who will be commercialising the whole harvest for the first time with the 2006 vintage – hence, for the last few vintages there have been two labels. La Romanée has always been a jewel, but perhaps missed some lustre in the 1970’s and 80’s, there is, however, a real extra polish in the most recent vintages – 2005 is a work of art.

terraces of romanee contiRomanée-Conti
The most celebrated and expensive red wine in the world, with reserves of flavour beyond imagination” – it sounds like Hugh Johnson is a convert. This is a jewel that has remained fully polished! No wine can be magnificent every vintage, but Romanée-Conti comes close. Form the picture (right) you can see that there are two tiers to the vineyard with a short step in-between (just above you can see the perpendicularly planted vines of La Romanée and higher still Aux Reignots). Romanée-Conti has been described by Allen Meadows as ‘spherical’ – a perfect sphere of a wine – it is not the ‘showiest’ of wines, but it takes all the attributes of the other grand crus, tones them down slightly, but integrates those parts magnificently.

4-500 cases per year are allocated throughout the world. Sadly demand is such that a significant proportion of these bottles – perhaps more than half – are destined to be traded and traded again due to their ‘investment potential’. A bottle could easily have 10-20 owners before eventually being drunk, and maybe it will not be in the best condition because of that. Release prices have been around 800-1,000 Euros per bottle in the recent vintages, grey market and restaurant prices are 175-300% of that – vintage dependant.

Romanée Saint-Vivant
A small excerpt from this fuller description:
…[As Burgundian vineyards go, at 9.44 hectares Romanée Saint-Vivant is rather large, as Grand Cru Burgundy vineyards go it is very large. It accounts for 35% of Vosne’s Grand Cru land. Whilst retaining the limestone base of its neighbours, the soil of Romanée Saint-Vivant, being at the bottom of the hill has, as one might expect, a higher percentage of clay-based soil than the vineyards that lie above – over many generations, the rain has taken much soil downhill. The lightly sloping vineyard runs from the edge of Vosne-Romanée village up to the edge of Romanée-Conti and Richebourg – at one time all of these owned by the Abbey of Saint-Vivant when the land was simply called the Clos de Saint-Vivant.]…
Despite a relatively short list of owners, many sell-on barrels resulting in a multitude of bottlers – e.g. in 1999 I have found many more than 20 different labels.

La Tâche
Here there is only one label – Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. This is probably the most consistently excellent wine of Vosne-Romanée; consistent because it takes in the breadth of altitudes and soil depths that Vosne offers and is sufficiently large a harvest that blending and declassifying can always lead to something special – it is the synthesis of Vosne-Romanée. At one time it was a tiny vineyard, only complicated by the naming of another, larger vineyard called Les Gaudichots ou La Tâche – i.e. a vineyard that could take either name! The Domaine de la Romanée-Conti applied in 1932 for this latter appellation to also be classed simply as La Tâche – this was opposed by the then owners of (the smaller) La Tâche – the Liger-Belairs – the Liger-Belairs lost and eventually sold their vines to Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. The wine is often purported to be the biggest, showiest, spiciest etc., etc.. In its youth it can be all those things and indeed more, but the real character of La Tâche is more subtle – it’s about its shape and the intellectual way that it speaks. Regardless of how the wine first presents itself to you, you must steal yourself for the fact that the door is only partly open, it is like walking into a large room from a small one – the wine always grows larger in your mouth, opening out before slowly fading in the finish. The wine is also a challenge, and for those that wish to take up that challenge, they will find something slightly different in their glass every time they return – whether it be for 15 minutes or 3 hours – This is La Tâche.


vosne

Despite the hallowed name, it is often said that one of the hardest jobs is to find a decent bottle of villages Vosne-Romanée – I would say that this was borne out from my notes below, which is a shame given that I chose a vintage (2001) that is typically characterised by fine tannins and the opportunity to show a pure fruit aspect – but take heart, I’ve done some of the work for you!

2001 Confuron-Coteditot, Vosne-Romanéetry to find this wine...
Medium, medium-plus colour looks wonderful in the glass. The nose is wide and deep, lots of red fruit action that tends towards confiture. This is a lovely, ever evolving, involving nose – at times there is even a smoky, stem element. The palate starts a little racy and linear with forward but reasonably well-textured tannins, but the tannins also seem to have more than a hint of bitterness about them. There is a core of slightly bitter, tart fruit that is actually very long in the finish. Time in the glass slowly brings out a sweeter side to this wine – I started to warm to it. Lovely aromatics, but this is a wine that needs to improve to gain table space – hopefully it will come with age.
2001 David Duband, Vosne-Romanéetry to find this wine...
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. The nose is deep and reflects some oak toast and dark fruit. The palate is very smooth, also dark fruit and barrel influences – licorice and black olive – but what’s that on the finish – taint? – confirmed. 10 minutes in the glass and the nose is overwhelmed with TCA – shame. The wine certainly had potential.
2001 Philippe et Vincent Lecheneaut, Vosne-Romanéetry to find this wine...
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. The nose has width and vanilla edged depth – smells very young. The palate is lithe – no fat – some sneaky vanilla edged length too, though perhaps just a little (oak influenced?) bitterness and texture too. The tannins are a little forward and astringent, matched to good acidity. There is a good burst of concentration in the mid-palate – the fruit mirrors the nose with its black profile. It would be harsh to judge this wine on so juvenille a performance, but a little more padding and better texture would have been preferred for current drinking. Almost good.
2001 Perrot-Minot, Vosne-Romanée Champs-Perdrix Vieilles Vignestry to find this wine...
Champs-Perdrix sits at the very top of Vosne but despite being a ‘villages’ wine, touches on the 1er crus of Les Gaudichots, Aux Reignots and Petits-Monts plus the very top of La Tâche. Medium-plus bright and young cherry-red colour. The nose starts with an undertow of dark, sweet and slightly toasty oak – this fades in the glass – soft, black-shaded fruit comes more to the fore. Lithe, concentrated, good acidity and very good mid-palate concentration. Despite plenty of well-grained, slightly astringent, tannin there’s a little oak induced texture that today I’d class as a negative. The finish is faint but lingering. Overall, it’s an impressive bottle, but I’d say it needs 3-4 years.
2001 Albert Bichot, Vosne-Romanéetry to find this wine...
Medium-plus ruby-red. On opening the wine has super red fruit in a Vosne vernacular, then in minutes tightens leaving just a few high tones. Wait about one hour and there is a softening; sweet fruit and a note that hovers between coffee and pipe tobacco. Good texture – fine tannins – real intensity in the mid-palate and excellent balance with the acidity. There is a good finish and a good feeling to match. I’ve liked this wine for a while and given that it seems to be tightening a little, the last few bottles will have to rest for a few years now. Still very good.
2001 Méo-Camuzet, Vosne-Romanéetry to find this wine...
Medium-plus ruby-red. The nose is wide but dominated by toasty oak – even after one hour this ‘mask’ hardly lifts, just a little mocha aroma develops. The palate has nice, soft texture and gives the impression of width – nicely detailed and quite complex, though doesn’t have the intensity of fruit of the Bichot that preceded it. Lovely acidity, slightly grainy tannin and excellent balance. I’m not the greatest fan of this style of aromatics, but this wine has a beguiling, if lightweight understatement. Stylisticly very different to the Bichot – which I slightly prefer – but equally worthy of cellar space; I’d be happy with a 3:2 Bichot:Méo mix.
2001 Mugneret-Gibourg, Vosne-Romanéetry to find this wine...
Medium-plus ruby-red. The nose is wide with a dense, central core of fruit. The palate has just a little more acidity than most – closer in impression to the 2004’s. From a textural perspective this is the winner of this group, it is wonderfully smooth, particularly the discreet tannin. There’s not the punch of fruit you get in the Bichot, nor the masculine density of the Perrot-Minot – in this respect it is closer to the (still lighter) Méo. Medium-plus length that occasionally shows a little extra creamy depth. This is a wine to wallow in, not to be ‘impressed’ by – that’s a compliment!
2001 Guyon, Vosne-Romanéetry to find this wine...
Medium ruby-red. The nose starts with deep and spicy, even rubbery oaky elements, slowly there are high-toned red fruit and floral aspects and eventually more plummy fruit added to the mix, the last drops in the glass smell fantastic. There’s a real kick when you first taste this, a burst of concentration and mouthwatering acidity. Initially there’s lots of spicy and slightly bitter oak in the finish too – this takes quite a while to improve – but only a little, taking on a more licorice style. For me there’s still far too much oak marking this wine and I’m sure it will never be fully absorbed – great for those that like this style, but I find it a shame that good underlying material is ‘coloured’ in this way.
two ‘aspirational’ villages

If I put two glasses in front of you – blind – and told you that one was Leroy you would almost wrongly guess which one. If I then told you that the other possibility was Dugat-Py you would have a 50% chance of being correct – but it would only be a guess! What’s the problem? Well it’s not exactly a problem, more a matter of expectation; the Leroy is a very light (for Leroy) colour wine. Perhaps Domaine Leroy over-did their stems in 2004(?)

2004 Domaine Leroy, Vosne-Romanéetry to find this wine...
Medium colour. A smokey/stemmy and wide though less intense nose than their Bourgogne; it does deepen with time and shows real (if understated) complexity. Versus the Bourgogne there is a perceptible extra density and length, the acidity is more fully covered. There is just a hint of bitterness though no astringency to the tannin. Long, long, long. It is a seriously interesting and complex wine but I find it hard to reconcile that it should contain Richebourg and Romanée St.Vivant – at least Leroy’s rendition! There is some value here I think, though like the Bourgogne, it is the aromatics that excel today.
2004 Dugat-Py, Vosne-Romanée Vieilles-Vignestry to find this wine...
Despite 75% whole bunch fermentation this is a deep cherry-red colour. The nose shouts aggressively of funk, reduction, sulfur and oak – nothing else – two hours are insufficient to make an iota of difference. If you leave the bottle (sans cork) upright in a ‘eurocave’ for 36 hours you will end up with something that actually smells of wine; dense but pure red fruit – I get the impression that you might need a week to see any oxidation! But why leave in a eurocave for 36 hours? Easy, what the funk might hide on the nose is there for all to see on the palate – cork taint. Now that’s a big shame (at least it wasn’t his Chambertin!) because there is concentration and a really exectutive texture – the tannins are so fine despite what I assume to be significant extraction. Ignoring the taint, this is mightily impressive wine though if you want to drink now I suggest early preparation – 8 hours in a decanter with lots of air would be my starting point or, better still, opening the night before and leaving the open bottle to overnight in the fridge.
additional 2004’s

For comparative purposes…

2004 Albert Bichot, Vosne-Romanéetry to find this wine...
Drunk as a counterpoint to the Leroy 2004 Vosne-Romanée – but 24 hours later. Medium-plus cherry-red. The nose is dense with tightly bound red fruit, only faintly spicy, just a trace of cedar, quite wide; totally different and more fruit driven than the complex, forward, smoky stems of the Leroy. The palate has lots of forward acidity, the fruit extract is only-just enough to cover this, but there is still an element of tartness in the finish. The Leroy had better balance, but this seems to have more fruit, plus a little grainy tannin. Open for several hours this crosses the border from almost good to good and seems to have improved in balance, perhaps not a wine to fill your cellar with, but worthy of a few bottles for future reference.
2004 Camille Giroud, Vosne-Romanéetry to find this wine...
Medium cherry-red. The nose is interesting with a green herby/spicy element to start. The palate is very interesting and really quite intense. The tannin is there and a little dry for about one second before smoothing-out into a very satisfying red-fruit dominated finish. That you could return to this after either the d’Ardhuy 1er or the DRC 1er that followed it is a compliment.
2004 d’Ardhuy, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Chaumestry to find this wine...
There’s a tight core of red fruit with cedar overtones on the nose. Understated entry before bursting with fruit on the mid-palate, perhaps this is in-part due to a little petillance, but the texture is very good and the length compelling. Understated middleweight elegance.
a brace of ‘aspirational’ 1ers

We don’t get to drink these every day, but it’s worth keeping an occasional check on them…

2002 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Vosne-Romanée 1er Crutry to find this wine...
Medium colour. A wide, interesting and smokey nose of quite some complexity, eventually a little bacon-fat comes through too. The palate is nicely delineated if not so concentrated, yet is both elegant and delicate. Actually this is rather beautiful and shows wonderful balance, such that I expect it will be very long lived. Super and with beautiful aromatics too. This was a hard bottle to open – not through guilt, rather the cork – pushing the corkscrew into the top caused the cork to start sinking and wine to squirt as there was no airspace. With incredible care and a twin-pronged ‘pull’ tool I got the cork out – phew! Comparing to the other wines opened this cork seemed narrower in diameter…
2002 Nicolas Potel, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Gaudichots try to find this wine...
Deeper ruby-red colour vs the 02 DRC 1er. The nose is sweeter with a hint of oak and cedar and perhaps just a trace of volatility. Beautiful texture, opens out over the palate very well. This wine in isolation a rather good, but next to the DRC it’s lacking both focus and precision. There is more density and intensity but not quite the length of the DRC. Today this comes a distant second, it will be interesting to make the test again in another ten years or so.

Leave a Reply to Paul H KellerCancel reply

There are 23 responses to “Vosne-Romanée: Village Profile”

  1. Tobias21st November 2006 at 9:53 pmPermalinkReply

    Hi,

    I have recently tatsed the Hudelot-Noellat 2004 wines. I tastes an amazingly energetic Beaumonts with great purity (Allen Meadows is right in this)! But I also tasted a very curious Malconsorts. I opened two bottles of it and neither bottle was in fact a good wine, it smelled like sauerkraut, tasted thin and deformed. Have you made any experiences on these wines? How do the wines get after the departure of the oenologist Nawrocki? Have you tasted the 2005?

    Thanks a lot,
    Tobias

  2. bill nanson22nd November 2006 at 9:10 amPermalinkReply

    Hi Tobias,
    I’ve found many super wines from H-N since 1998, though not much experience of older wines and I’ve never got a hold of a bottle of their Malconsorts. The Beaumonts and the Suchots have been very good, so has the RSV if you can stretch. Re the 2005’s – also not yet tasted – sorry – in-fact I just turned down a tasting opportunity for these in January as I have to work…
    🙁

  3. Antoine22nd November 2006 at 11:12 amPermalinkReply

    Very interesting! Just one comment about your producers site list: Grivot is Grivot.fr and not Grivot.com.
    Besides this, I really enjoy getting to your site every quarter. A moment of joy 4 times a year!!…

    A London Frenchman (tou may have the better deal living in this wonderful region)

  4. Chris M.22nd November 2006 at 4:57 pmPermalinkReply

    Nice addition Bill.

    The Clos de Reas monopole is under the Michel Gros domaine (which you knew of course).
    Cheers.

    Chris.

  5. Marc24th November 2006 at 9:51 pmPermalinkReply

    First of all congratulations for this excellent site.

    Concerning the 1 Cru of Vosne there is also to mention the 1 Cru “en Orveaux” located at the north-est tip of les Echézeaux located in Flagey but sold under the appelation Vosne Romanée.
    It is tiny but wines of domaine Guyon and also Chateau de Marsannay are absolutly outstanding.

  6. Phil11th December 2006 at 8:45 pmPermalinkReply

    Bill, No mention of Orveaux or Rouges is this beacuse they are in Flagey ?

  7. bill nanson11th December 2006 at 11:14 pmPermalinkReply

    Hi Phil,
    As Marc already pointed out the missing Orveaux – no they weren’t actually (intentionally) left out – rather I seem to have a cut and paste issue coupled with an inability to find the original. It will probably be at leisure over Christmas that I reinstate them in all their glory!

  8. Tobias Gschwendtner12th December 2006 at 9:34 pmPermalinkReply

    Hallo Bill,

    are you looking forward to the les Petits Monts from Louis-Michel Liger-Belair or from Thibault? Have you already tasted the Thibault wines, for instance the 2005? I had only the opportunity to taste the 2004 (aux reas and les saint georges), but saying the truth, I found them a bit “experimental”, having an unusual dark color for the year, a very tight tannic structure and a cooked (plum marmelade) nose (does Thibault heat the must during vinification?). I first thought it was the bottle but a second one resembled my first impression.

    Yours,
    Tobias

  9. bill nanson12th December 2006 at 10:34 pmPermalinkReply

    Thanks for your insights Tobias,
    Petits Monts is one of my favourite crus – at least from Drouhin and Potel – so I’m very-much looking forward to tasting Louis-Michel’s new crus. I already tasted his 2005’s and La Romanée is perhaps the best wine I ever tasted from barrel so will look forward to post-malo tastings there. Re Thibault I hope to visit in 2007

  10. David Henry26th December 2006 at 5:28 pmPermalinkReply

    I recently purchased seven bottles of Domaine Anne Gros’ 2002 regional Bourgogne Rouge (at $26 US each). A most intriguing nose of violets, black fruits and spices, and nearly as fun on the palate. It was a great buy. I am wondering if this is declassified Vosne Romanee. Can you shed any light?

  11. Marc27th December 2006 at 1:36 pmPermalinkReply

    The Bourgogne from Domaine Guyon in Vosne Romanée is also gorgeous: 2001 at the moment is just great (for a Bourgogne).
    The vines are all located in Vosne Romanée but on the “wrong” side of the N74. Therefore it is only a Bourgogne.
    For the domaine Anne Gros I don’t know.

    Marc

  12. Marc3rd January 2007 at 10:38 amPermalinkReply

    Concerning the Bourgogne of A.F. Gros, it is produced from vines locates in Pommard below the N74. These vines were declassified from Pommard to Bourgogne in 1936.

    Marc

  13. bill nanson3rd January 2007 at 1:51 pmPermalinkReply

    I believe that most of the vines for Anne Gros’ bourgogne are (just like Guyons) on the ‘wrong’ side of the RN74. I think there are 3 plots in the area called ‘Les Champs d’Argent’ sited between Nuits St.Georges and Vosne-Romanée. The vines are ~15 years old and this cuvée normally receives around 30% new oak and has consistently good reviews.
    Cheers, Bill

  14. Paul H Keller24th February 2007 at 9:11 amPermalinkReply

    I have a wine I hope you can tell me about.It’s a 1997 Nuits-Saint-George
    Les Chaillots from R. Dubois & Fils. Is it worth further aging or should we
    enjoy it now?

  15. bill nanson24th February 2007 at 2:18 pmPermalinkReply

    Hi Paul
    Chaliots is the common spelling of a plot of ‘villages’ rated vines lying next to the RN74 (Route Nationale). From 97 there would be little point in leaving this in the cellar – except for academic reasons. I’m not familiar with wines of Dubois.
    Cheers

  16. Thibault Liger-Belair2nd April 2007 at 8:39 amPermalinkReply

    Dear Tobias,

    i have read your message concerning my wines, I just want to answer to your question concerning the vinification, I don’t heat my grappe during the vinification, or use enzyme. I’m not looking for a dark color but i’m always try to have some very ripe grappe and the color come naturally. It’s true that the 04 are little bit tight today but this is the vintage, and it’s not ready for drinking now,even more for the Saint Georges.
    I’m still in your disposition if you want some more information

  17. bill nanson2nd April 2007 at 8:50 amPermalinkReply

    It’s nice of you to drop-by Thibault – many thanks for your information.
    Cheers, Bill

  18. Maximiliano Morales9th April 2007 at 8:14 pmPermalinkReply

    La Romanée, property of Liger Belair Family, decided to produce wines of high scale in Chile in alliance with winemaker Francois Massoc (Chilean/French) and Pedro Parra (Terroir´s specialist), that for the last six years have investigated the soils and wine valleys in Chile to find the best grapes of the country to create the unique concept that will give much to speak among the wine business.

    Regards from Chile!

    Maximiliano Morales S.
    wines@andeswines.com
    (56) 9-9-219 7117 / (56) 41-221 6106

  19. crazy frenchy20th September 2008 at 5:20 amPermalinkReply

    hi guys
    is anyone can give me some tips on the tibault liger richebourg 2005,like price and tasting note.
    thanks
    regards

  20. Nigel Rummey28th May 2010 at 2:18 pmPermalinkReply

    Having done some extensive geneological research with my father it transpires that our family surname originates from Romanee.

    How chuffed are we!!

  21. knauer27th September 2010 at 2:25 pmPermalinkReply

    Hello, I have a 1952 Vosne Romanee Village Remoissenet Pere et Fils. Could you give me any idea whether the wine is still drinkable? Best regards, knauer

  22. JT21st July 2011 at 2:44 pmPermalinkReply

    Bill, in the Richebourg section I believe Liger-Belair’s plot was produced in the past by Dominique Mugneret and not Mongeard-Mugneret.

    • billn24th July 2011 at 8:01 amPermalinkReply

      Hi JT,
      Maybe you are correct – it’s a long-time since I wrote that and much vin has passed under the bridge since then – for the life me I cannot remember the source of that comment 😉

Burgundy Report

Translate »

You are using an outdated browser. Please update your browser to view this website correctly: https://browsehappy.com/;