Winemaker Notes
From a tiny parcel of less than 0.3 ha of north-east facing vines planted in 1953 located very close to Grand Cru Echezeaux, aged in 50% new oak, 50% 1 year old oak. Produces just 3 barrels in a good year of finely structured more mineral wine of great perfume and spice. Not far from the Chambolle border and it always shows in it finesse and perfume.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Badly hit by frost in 2016 but back to normal yields in 2017, this 75-year-old 0.3ha parcel is so special that it's the source of the domaine's massal selections. Bright, lively and refreshing, this wine really shows the influence of the nearby combe. It's floral and sweet, with tobacco and Asian spices, a lovely texture and beautifully integrated wood, 55% new.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru En Orveaux delivers a superb bouquet of cassis, wild damson, grilled squab, sweet soil tones, licorice and exotic spices. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, ample and concentrated, with a lavish core of old vine fruit, succulent acids, and fine-grained structuring tannins, concluding with a long and dramatic finish. This cuvée, from seventy-year-old vines, is the insiders' choice for chez Cathiard this year.
Barrel Sample: 92-94
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.