Seattle Burgundy Group Tasting #5 Vosne Romanée

Thank you to Adam for a extremely tasty opening treats from Ojai Vineyard.

• 2002 Sylvain Cathiard Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

  Medium Ruby, hints of Garnet.
  
  Sweet, spicey oaky nose with lots of rich raspberry, bing cherry, ginger, cinnamon, smoky mushroom.
  
  Elegant and stylish, with smooth but firm tannins. Wild cherry, red plum and ginger in the forefrunt, with hints of mushroom and sappy earth. The oak is less predominant but definitely sweetens the palate and helps with the elegant character. Perfect acidity and tannins that are both polished and prevelant. Again, stylish.

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• 1999 Domaine Daniel Rion et Fils Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Chaumes 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

  Pale ruby, Orange Rim. Nose begins with serious sulphur, but is followed by pretty wild cherry, sour raspberry, and vanilla along with cinnamon and clove from a moderate oak influence. There is also a sweet/grainy almost graham cracker like note.
  
  On the palate, the wine is smooth to the point of being soft, but I don't think that this reflects a lack of concentration or quality; rather an elegant, silky tannin and seemless balance. Flavors are dominated by spice, wild cherry and fresh clay earth. The finish is long and spicy, the wine is a little less demure on the finish.
  
  Overall, my impressions are that this is stylish and balanced if lacking a little character.

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• 2001 Domaine Francois Lamarche Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts Flawed

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

  This bottle may have been flawed but here it goes anyway . . .
  
  Pale Ruby, garnet edge. The nose is dirty & musty, with mint, cranberry and unpleasant chemical aromas.
  
  The palate was sappy and a little green, but very soft, and hollow. This wine must be corked.

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• 2004 Camille Giroud Vosne-Romanée 87 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée

  Medium Ruby, consistant to the rim.
  
  First pass on the nose reveals sappy sour cherry, layered, if slightly reduced aromas. Stemmy and earthy, with that great intense aroma that the best 04's come up with. a few minutes later (remember this was decanted 4 hours previously) the nose shut down and showed stemmy, reduced aromas with very little fruit.
  
  On the palate the win is firm and complex, with layered cherry, clay, and pleasant stemmy notes. Over the course of the tasting the tannins became more dominant to the point of being unpleasantly course, but the wine still had class and character, and might come around at some point.

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• 2004 Domaine de L'Arlot Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots 95 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

  Pale ruby, consistant to rim.
  
  Spicey, stemmy, and full of red fruit, if a little demure on the nose. Raspberries, strawberries, cherries, cardamom, mace, vanilla and baking spice. Moderate oak, a little reduction, and a lot of sappy, earthy, brooding aromas underneath.
  
  On the palate, this was the lightest, most elegant of the 9 wines tasted. But there was pleanty of depth, along with gorgeous raspberry and strawberry fruit. There are lots of sweet and savory spices, a pleasant kiss of oak, a great nervy acidity, and a really long, sweet finish. Is there a lot of earth? I reserve judgement for 10 years.

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• 2004 Domaine Alain Burguet Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Rouges du Dessus 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

  Dark Ruby, saturated color, stained legs . . . is this Burgundy? from 2004?
  
  Gamey, smokey, oaky black cherry, black raspberry, red plum and cinnamon, vanilla, and clove make a heady, sweet, nose, that was awfully hard not to like even if we were a little embarassed to like it so much. The slight reduction came across as an earthy balancing note.
  
  The palate was powerful to the point of being distracting. Intense and closed, but even the gripping tannins had class. Rich, wild black fruit, chalky tannin, and hints of baking spice, but most of the other things we expected were hidden by the massive tannins. we all agreed that this needs time, but I really liked it.

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• 2005 Domaine Alain Burguet Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Rouges du Dessus 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

  Dark Ruby, Saturated Color, stained legs.
  
  Candied red plum, ginger, cola, jello, cinnamon, clove, vanilla, lots of oak, but the sweet fruit dominates. The candied character is a little distracting, but overall it's a really clean, attractive nose. Earth?
  
  On the palate, intense tannins are almost hidden by rich, sweet, black fruit. Plum, black cherry, candied raspberry, the oak barely even shows on the palate except in the sweet character of the wine. The finish is long, fruity and tannic. This is a really tasty, well made wine, but again, where's the earth?

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• 2005 Bruno Desaunay-Bissey Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Rouges Vieilles Vignes 87 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

  Medium Ruby, magenta rim.
  
  Stewed and overripe cherry, along with moderate oak are the dominate aromas. But underneath there are hints of earth and spice, which keep this interesting.
  
  On the palate, firm, spicy, moderate weight. The fruity is fresher, but still stewey. pretty, polished tannins, moderate oak.

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• 2005 Cecile Tremblay Vosne-Romanée Vieilles Vignes 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée

  Medium Ruby/purple, consistent to rim.
  
  Squeeky clean nose, red cherries and plums, and red grapes. Stoney mineral, flowers. no noticeable oak.
  
  Austere palate. Cherries, flowers, grapes, stoney mineral. Firm, delineated tannins (not unpleasant, but firm), lots of acid, and a surprisingly long finish for such an austere wine. I suspect that in a few years this will be the wine of the bunch.

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There was some well-founded discussion about the lack of value of many of these wines, but I left feeling like there were some really pretty, stylish wines, that had a ton of class. Sure they were too young . . . but that is sort of the nature of the beast here. Are they worth 80-100 a bottle, hard to say. But I'd drink these over 80-100 Cabernet Sauvignon in a heartbeat.