Winemaker Notes
Fermented in stainless steel tanks using naturally occurring yeast. Aged in French barrique, 60-85% new for 18 months. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
A dense, almost creamy, concentrated cassis fruit, adorned with notes of smoke, spice and salt. Focused, with plenty of tannin and extract, this is a wonderful wine. 2020 saw tiny yields from Dujac's 1.55ha in Malconsorts - no more than 10-15 hl/ha. The fruit was partially destemmed and fermented slowly prior to ageing. The wine gets the same 16 months in 70% new casks that the grand crus receive.
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Jasper Morris
Not the deepest colour in the flight, and all the better for it. Here the fruit is at optimum ripeness and thus gives a delicious perfume. This is understated but extremely fine, a classical Burgundy despite the warmth of the year. An example of the stems being put to good effect.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This site can often produce wines that only show their full potential at the end of élevage, and it certainly seems that I somewhat underestimated the potential of Dujac's 2020 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts from barrel, as it showed even better from bottle. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of dark berries, cassis and plums mingled with notions of sweet spices and vine smoke, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, with huge depth at the core, powdery tannins and a long, resonant finish. While this remains a somewhat reserved wine, its potential quality is much easier to grasp. Rating: 96+
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Vinous
The 2020 Vosne-Romanée Malconsorts 1er Cru has a riper nose than its peers, possibly later picked, yet it retains freshness and gains complexity with aeration. Light oyster shells and iris flower scents develop with time. The palate has more mineralité than its peers in this flight. It offers wonderful tension and is poised and velvety in texture, but the finish.
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Wine Spectator
The 2020 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts opens in the glass with notes of plums and wild berries mingled with aromas of orange oil, exotic spices, smoked duck and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, layered and muscular, it's finer-boned and less overtly powerful than its 2019 and 2018 predecessors, even if it's still a serious, structured, concentrated wine.
Barrel Sample: 93-95
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
This is the village for the most die-hard Burgundy fanatics. Vosne-Romanée has for many hundreds of years been the source of the most sought-after Pinot Noir in Burgundy. The village claims six Grands Crus—and some of the most famous at that—but in other villages where owners manage tiny parcels or a few rows of any one vineyard, monopolies dominate the Grands Crus of Vosne-Romanee.
Of these monopolies, Domaine Romanee-Conti (DRC) reigns supreme, claiming not only more total vineyard area than any other producer, but outright owning the entirety of two of the Grands Crus and a majority of two others. In its full possession are naturally Romanée-Conti, as well as La Tâche. DRC also owns most of Richebourg and Romanée-St-Vivant. The final two, La Grande Rue and La Romanée are completely owned by other other produers: François Lamarche and Comte Liger Belair, respectively.
While one could spend a lifetime on the puzzles of land ownership in Burgundy, the point is that Vosne-Romanee contains the most valuable pieces of vineyard real estate in the world. Pinot Noir from any of its vineyards—especially from within its 27ha of Grand Cru or 58 ha of Premier Cru land—is going to rank among the best.
The most outstanding wines from this village have everything: finesse and elegance coupled with the body and sturdiness for incredibly long aging ability. They are intensely floral and exotically spiced. Beautifully ripe, complex and ephemeral throughout, they are robust, yet fine-grained in texture. These wines will stay gorgeous for the long haul.