WB Burgundy Appellation Series Week 7: Vosne+

Hello and welcome to Week 7 of our Wine Berserkers Burgundy Appellation Tasting Series! This week, we will focus on the wines of both Vosne-Romanée and Flagy-Echézeaux, along with the Grands Crus of:

Romanée-Conti, La Romanée, La Tâche, Romanée-Saint-Vivant, Richebourg, La Grande Rue, Grands Échezeaux, Échezeaux

spot of land,pictures my own making
http://shurl.eu/zGZ

Ah Vosne…my favorite week…

Have some nice T/N’'s I’ll have to try to do up…

Here is my note on the 2007 Liger-Belair Vosne Romanee Clos du Chateau.

This is a special village property adjacent to the Chateau du Vosne Romanee owned by the Liger-Belairs.
Fabulous stuff.

Agree with Don, although I haven´t tasted the Clos du Chateau 2007 since last May. Also a fine example - but far closer to maturity - is 2001, the year before Louis-Michel got La Romanee back.

Just accidentally I drank yesterday a bottle of

VOSNE-ROMANÉE “Clos des Réas” 1er cru - Michel GROS 2004
Although I haven´t bought many 2004ers due to my early tastings out of barrel I though I might ceck one:
Good medium red colour, but with slightly brown reflexes and lightening on the rim, nice plummy fruit with hints of soya and dried herbs … and with a certain funk, but (almost) no hints of green - blind maybe I would have thought it to be a 1998 … good persistency on the palate, with an (unusual for Michel Gros) slight dryness in the finish, acidity coming thru in the end eventually, but all in all a wine in good balance,but reflecting the (not perfect) vintage, medium length, went very well with the cold dinner - in fact one of the better 2004 examples by far …
After one hour the slightly green and dry notes grew a bit more perceptible - so I really doubt if with more age it will fill out completely … but on the other hand no hurry to drink … (worth 88 points)

On April 1st I will taste thru the vintage 2008 Burgundy AND Rhone … incl. some Vosnes - and I will post a link here to the report.

(for my comprehensive LA ROMANEE-tasting it´s a good one year too early … )

Gerhard, I’ve had the 04 Clos des Reas (ex-Domaine) and it was awfully green that I had difficulty finishing half the bottle. It got worse on day 2 and 3…

That was not MY bottle - and mine was also ex-Domaine …
… maybe different bottlings - or simply bottles?

I´m a rather harsh critic of 2004 … but this was good.

Interesting. I probably have fewer VR than a lot of other villages. Like any Burgundy lover, I have had some great VRs, but in general the prices are higher for the same level of quality as other villages. Then, I find very young VR very hard to taste, which means I have less confidence in my ability to figure out what the good ones will be, other than the expensive big names.

I will be very interested in what others like here. Certainly my easy “value” go to play here is Mugneret-Gibourg VR. Great in any vintage. I need to buy some Liger-Belair as I like the wines. Have not been that wild about Grivot.

Unfortunately the market price of the single vineyard VR villages from Comte Liger-Belair is easily 1.5x to 2x the cost of a Mugneret VR…

I think that is true throughout their lines.

Vosne-Romanee is hallowed ground, and regarded by many as the source of the very highest peaks in all of Burgundy. Of course there is always room for personal opinions and/or preferences to differ, but there is no debate that Vosne-Romanee is “the” high-rent district in a region of high rents.

I hope we will generate a lively discussion of the climats of Vosne-Romanee, so I’ll throw out my personal hierarchy.

First Division Grand Crus:
Romanee-Conti
La Romanee
La Tache
Richebourg
Romanee-Saint-Vivant
Grands Echezeaux
La Grande Rue (some will surely disagree)

Other Grand Crus:
Echezeaux (38 ha, larger than all seven of the above crus combined)

Quasi-Grand 1er Crus:
Malconsorts

Elite 1er Crus:
Cros Parantoux (many would move this up to the higher level)
Beaux Monts
Suchot
Brulees
Petite Monts
Reignots
Gaudichots
(This list of “Elite 1er Crus” is longer for Vosne than any other commune. There is certainly room to argue it is too long. In some cases, my personal experience is limited, so all comments and/or opinions are welcome.)

Other 1er Crus:
There are six other 1er crus, with honorable mention to Chaumes and En Orveaux. There should not be any “ordinary” wines from Vosne-Romanee 1er crus, although such lofty ideals are never fully realized in actual practice.

BTW, last year’s thread on Vosne-Romanee was fascinating and well worth a review.

Right, the LB “Clos du Chateau” (Monopole) is app. 1.6 the price of MG VR ex-Domaine - quite the same as some producers VR 1er Cru … but the former has a personality and distinction - not talking about complexity and finesse - that the MG is lacking. One has simply to decide what to buy for they money.

A personal statement: I have bought quite a lot of MGs from 1988 to 1997, but abandoned purchasing thereafter and sold some bottles - simpy because I liked the style less and less … the wines had (and still have) a certain compressed slightly “hot” and alcoholic expression that reminds me on a Southern Grenache … not what I look for in a Vosne (or CV or Ruchottes-Ch …). I will not deny the quality, but it´s no more my style in Burgundy …

You CAN have a discussion !

GRAND CRU Hors Classe
Romanee-Conti

First Division Grand Crus A:
La Romanee
La Tache
Richebourg
Romanee-Saint-Vivant

First Division Grand Crus B:
Grands Echezeaux
La Grande Rue (I don´t disagree, but v.m. depending on the vintage)
Echezeaux (the best examples)

Other Grand Crus:
Echezeaux (lesser examples)

Quasi-Grand Cru quality:
Cros Parantoux (!)
Malconsorts (some examples)
Aux Reignots (some examples)
Les Gaudichots (some examples)
Suchots (Arnoux and Liger-Belair)
Beaux Monts (some examples)

Elite 1er Crus:
Malconsorts (the rest)
Aux Reignots (the rest)
Les Gaudichots (the rest)
Beaux Monts (the rest)
Suchots (the rest)
Brulees
Petits Monts (some examples)
Les Chaumes (Liger-Belair)

1er Crus:
Petite Monts (the rest)
Clos des Reas (often better!)
Les Chaumes (the rest)
En Orveau (some examples)
Au dessus de Malconsorts (often labelled as Mancolsorts!)

minor 1er Crus:
En Orveau (the rest)
Les Rouges
La Croix Rameau

Village lieu-dits of 1er Cru quality
Clos du Chateau
Clos Frantin (now Clos d´Eugenie)
Aux Reas (Leroy)
Aux Genaivrieres (Leroy)

fine Village lieu-dits
Aux Reas (the rest)
Aux Genaivrieres (the rest)
La Colombiere
Les Barreaux (Anne Gros)
La Montage (Bruno Clavelier)
Hauts Beaux Monts (Bruno Clavelier)
Combe Brulée (Bruno Clavelier)
Aux Ravioles (bottled by Emmanuel Rouget)
Clos Goillotte (Prieuré-Roch - but too expensive)
Clos de la Fontaine (A.-F. Gros)

Many will disagree, but I have tasted these wines more often than all other Burgundies together.

Doesn’t Meo’s Brulees warrant inclusion as a qausi-grand cru ?

Meo is a fine example, the 3 Vosne-1er Crus fit exactly into my categories:
Cros Parantoux (always ahead and often better than the other GCs except the Richebourg)
Les Brulees - a true and fine 1er Cru, with real breed and longivity
Les Chaumes - fruitier, very elegant but lacking a bit intensity

That´s also the order (upwards) in which you are served at the domaine - with good reason …

I admit that Meos Brulees is better than several (not so fine) 1er Crus made by others, but with an “Elite 1er Cru” I think it´s apropriate …

Interesting, Gerhard. I don’t believe I’ve seen the Mugneret-Gibourg style described this way before, hot and alcoholic like a Southern Grenache. I have a few, but not very many and they are mostly young so I’ve been holding off. I guess I need to try a few. Which wines specifically are this way? Is it across the whole line-up, or certain wines, certain vintages?

Nick, Gerhard, I cannot answer. What we think of specific wines is a different question, although closely related. Perhaps it is futile to attempt a classment of the crus… and instead just go for a list of outstanding wines, maybe even down to the point of listing specific vintages of specific wines. Because we all base our thoughts on which wines we have had, and at which stage of maturity.

Can we really say that Charmes-Chambertin is a top level grand cru if we taste a few vintages of Bachelet’s Charmes and really love it? Maybe, but we would have to believe (IMO) that other lesser examples of Charmes-Chambertin are because the domaines are under-performing the potential of the cru.

On the flip side, transport yourself back 20 years and answer the question about Musigny. After suffering through 15 or 20 mediocre vintages of de Vogue Musigny, would we class Musigny as a second-rate vineyard?

While I wouldn’t compare M-G to the S Rhone or call them hot, I do think they trend towards the riper, fleshier side of the spectrum but without too much polish and extract. I tend to quite like the M-G wines, and I think the par quality is superb, but I would say they get a little too much credit for purity / finesse. I think of them a bit more like, say, Arnoux and a bit less like, say, Fourrier…

Of course I don´t mean that MG-wines are LIKE a Southern Rhone Grenache - but there is often a certain tendency, hints of concentrated alc and hot fruits … all in comparison with others producers, e.g. Cathiard, Mugnier, Dujac, Confureon … much more finesse-driven, more fragile, more compex - and more “Burgundian” … at least for me …

it´s across all Appellations, from Nuits Vignerondes to Chambolle-Feusselottes to Ruchottes … and it´s a bit masking the Appellations …

I took into account all vintages and producers I´ve tasted over the years … so 20 years ago there would have been at least 1945, 1949, 1961, 1971 Vogüé … absolutely no reason to classify Musigny 2nd rate …