Vosne Suchots tasting - insert your own pun

…Suchots lot of good wine…?? Best leave this game to Alan and Jeremy I guess.

These are brief notes on a tasting I led for my local group this week. The idea had been bubbling around in my brain for some years based on the vertical of Confuron-Cotetidot I’d been building and I’d always liked the idea of focusing on a specific site. Not sure I learned much about Suchots in the end, but I certainly learned a bit about the three domaines featured.

Confuron-Cotetidot bracket
2004
Briary and spicy but not immediately green. A hint of the vegetal on the palate and a disappointing touch of resin in the texture. The green flavours weren’t too intrusive however. This will always be a savoury rather than a sweet/generous style. Big volume and weight. Attractive spice on the mid-palate and then a dry finish. 16/20

2005
Crystalline and extremely pure. Has energy to match its mass. Massive tannic grip. Totally primary. A bit of a beast with a muscular, powerful finish. 17.5/20

2006
Very slightly dusty and just on the edge of perceptible TCA. Superb, bright and rich fruit underneath. Lovely energy and a more delicate tannin profile than the 2005. Impressive length. Probably 17/20 without the taint.

2007
Attractive Vosne musk and scent. Spicy. Pretty red fruit and spice perfume. Elegant, with lift and a sense of light and shade on the finish. A really smart 2007. 18/20

2008
Pristine, beautifully detailed fruit and great spice characters. Light on its feet and crisp. Very youthful. Pixellated and bursting with energy. 18.5/20

Arnoux-Lachaux bracket
2007
Extremely ripe and succulent. Flattering, richly-textured attack but falls away towards the finish. Slightly superficial and simple at its core. Warm on the back with alcohol. 16/20

2011
Aromas have more cohesion and focus than the '07. Fruit expression has precision and delicacy. Fine boned structure and a high-toned edge throughout. Finish just isn’t quite there. 17/20

2013
Sweet fruit on the nose but the ‘whole’ is slightly unformed at this stage. Palate shows light, shade and energy. Seriously impressive. Crisp, mineral tannin and a great build - crescendo - to the finish. 18/20

2014
Very shy nose. Fatter than the '13 and quite dense for the vintage. Deluxe and glossy style. Dark-toned fruit and a dry finish. 17.5/20

Hudelot-Noellat bracket
1996
Delicate, slightly leafy perfume. Very sweet with a firm structure behind it - marked chaptalisation character? Seems manipulated. Bit hard and angular on the finish. 16/20

2001
Very impressive showing. Spicy, leafy, briary aromas. Attractive sweetness and volume, with much greater harmony than the '96. Successfully combines richness and tension. 17.5/20

2010
Really class act. Nose is tightly wound but this has a superb, light on its feet, profile on the palate. It dances. Very fine-spun web of tannin. Elegant and silky finish. 18.5/20

I guess the domaines performed as expected. Confuron-Cotetidot was heavily marked by the stem inclusion. They’re large-scaled wines, need lots of time, and flirt with the rustic. The 2007 and '08 were extremely exciting. I didn’t quite ‘get’ Arnoux-Lachaux. They seemed quite plush and slightly ‘emperor’s new clothes’ but I know many people love them. Is their Suchots of Grand Cru quality? Not for my palate. Hudelot-Noellat seemed much more elegant than C-C but much more classical and more typically Vosne than A-L.

Cheers,
M

you have to come up with your Vosne pun. Suchots me what you’ve got . . .

I think with Arnoux Suchots you’d have to try some from the 90’s or before to really be able to pass judgment. I think they can come across as a little chunky/perhaps oaky when young. Last one I had was I think the 99, and it bested most every Grand cru on the table (mostly Gevrey grand crus).

Thanks this was a very useful set of notes! I would love to contribute also but my stores of Suchots are not as deep as yourrs

Yes, great set of notes, Matthew,

Succinct and enormously helpful. Have a '93 Arnoux Suchots, so I’ll have to try in light of other posters. That you preferred them over the H-N, “goes to Suchots you,” as they say.

Big fan of H-N Suchots here. It has the added benefit of being “affordable” compared to Arnoux.

Thanks for sharing Matthew. The C-C Suchots has been a yearly buy for me for a couple years now. Yves winemaking style and use of stems borderline demands extended cellaring. I’d also like to pick up a H-N Suchots but the only offer I got down here for the '15 was @$400AUD per.

No longer true - with the '15 vintage, it has pulled roughly equal with the Arnoux Suchots (a 50% jump from 2014 pricing).

Unfortunately true, and why I only purchased H-N village wines in 2015.

And the pun is “I want you Suchots me the way…”

It is not the best time now to taste ´11, ´13, ´14 Arnoux …

Our wine group did a Suchots tasting early this year. No notes just impressions I scribbled back then.

Bracket #1
2007 Grivot
2008 Grivot
2009 Grivot
2010 Grivot
2008 Hudelot-Noellat
The 2007 looked a bit clumsy and 2008 very feral. 2009 and 2010 Grovot looked good although it was in a Grivot style which is bit brawny. The H-N looked very pretty.
Overall, the group consensus was that there was not much love for Grivot. This was highlighted after tasting the second bracket.

Bracket #2
2005 Jadot
1996 Arnoux
1999 Cacheux
2002 Arnoux
1997 Confuron-Cotetidot
The C-C was the least preferred wine by all. Too much oak and lacking in finesse. The 2005 Jadot was backward and very muscular; it may come around in a decade or so after it has settled in the bottle. Both the Arnoux were highlights of the tasting. Took the tasting to another level altogether. Really benchmark wines. The Cacheux also looked very nice. Elegant, supple and spicy.

I think C-C has changed their oak regime somewhat Sanjay. I nearly didn’t go an taste there back in 2015 as I was under the impression that everything was 100% new oak. I asked Yves about oak and his statement IIRC was that he uses ~30% new oak for most of his wines. Granted that was nearly two years ago so I could be wrong, but that’s my recollection.

Think you’re right on the oak, Andrew. Interestingly, I was first introduced to the C-C wines in Oz, by Len Evans and co.

the 05 Grivot was a surprising 96 point score from the stingy Tanzer. Own it but haven’t tasted it.

Not a pun, but black humor: the joke in Vosne when you haven’t seen someone for a long time is to inquire, ‘have they gone to the Suchots?’, the vineyard being adjacent to the village cemetery.

Gives new meaning to the question, “Will this wine make old bones?”

Given recent price increases you could be forgiven for feeling the only way you can land one is if you Suchots me the money…

Sorry, I know it’s terrible, but I couldn’t help myself.