Winemaker Notes
The wine shows aromas and flavors of red berries, herbs, and purple flowers. The palate is rich with ripe fruit and medium weight with bright acidity and fine tannins. Aging in 40-70% new Burgundian pièce brings notes of vanilla, toast, and baking spices.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
A 'grand cru-plus', this is truly extraordinary wine, with expressive red and black fruits which show a saline minerality and floral notes. The texture is dense but unbelievably silky. Behind that are very firm tannins and substantial extract. A stunning bottle of wine. The grapes are from a parcel of 0.31ha that is upslope from Hudelot-Noëllat and next to Thibault Liger-Belair. The vines were planted in 1949. The grapes are destemmed and gently fermented.
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Vinous
The 2020 Richebourg Grand Cru has a fragrant bouquet with red berry fruit and briar. A clever use of whole bunches imparts subtle peppery scents. It is gentle and classy. The palate is medium-bodied with ripe red berry fruit, commendable mineralité and tension. Almost Richebourg-like in structure, grippy, and "serious" towards the finish.
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Jasper Morris
Like the Grivot Echezeaux, I had some initial doubts about the bouquet which the wine on the palate subsequently removed. Quite full purple, with a bacon fat reduction on the nose. A deeply sensual red fruit beneath, before a relatively dry finish due to the current reduction. Not quite in the groove today, but will develop well from here as the reduction diminishes.
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.