Reviews

The 2010 Vougeot Le Clos du Priure boasts an exotic nose redolent of spices, tar, anise, sweet dark cherries and tobacco, all of which resonate beautifully on the palate. This is a gorgeous, layered wine graced with notable depth despite its mid-weight personality. A striking, caressing finish rounds things out in style. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2025. This is stunning set of wines from Pierre Vincent and Domaine de la Vougeraie. It is impossible to miss the attention to detail at this impeccably run domaine. No expense is spared. It takes 80 people to work the vineyards during harvest and another 20 in the cellar to take it from there. Production in 2010 was of course down significantly as it was everywhere else. Yields came in at 24 hectoliters per hectare for the Pinot and 29 for the Chardonnay. Vincent used between 30-80% whole bunches, depending on the wine. Readers who want to learn more might want to check out my video interview with Pierre Vincent on www.erobertparker.com. I will report on the domaine’s 2009s in the April issue. For now let me just say the 2009 Musigny is one of the wines of the vintage.

The 2010 Savigny-Les-Beaune Les Marconnets presents a dark profile of black cherries, plums, smoke and licorice, all in a deep, sensual style that is more than a little bit unusual for the appellation. This is an especially rich, big Savigny informed by the high percentage of shot berries that have given the wine its intensity and deep color, but it all works, and beautifully. It will be interesting to see how this develops over the next few years. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2020. This is stunning set of wines from Pierre Vincent and Domaine de la Vougeraie. It is impossible to miss the attention to detail at this impeccably run domaine. No expense is spared. It takes 80 people to work the vineyards during harvest and another 20 in the cellar to take it from there. Production in 2010 was of course down significantly as it was everywhere else. Yields came in at 24 hectoliters per hectare for the Pinot and 29 for the Chardonnay. Vincent used between 30-80% whole bunches, depending on the wine. Readers who want to learn more might want to check out my video interview with Pierre Vincent on www.erobertparker.com. I will report on the domaine’s 2009s in the April issue. For now let me just say the 2009 Musigny is one of the wines of the vintage.

The 2010 Gevrey-Chambertin Bel Air shows the wilder side of Gevrey. The aromas and flavors aren’t quite as well-defined as they are in the other Gevreys in the lineup. Maybe time will help soften some of the contours that mark the wine’s personality at present. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2025. This is stunning set of wines from Pierre Vincent and Domaine de la Vougeraie. It is impossible to miss the attention to detail at this impeccably run domaine. No expense is spared. It takes 80 people to work the vineyards during harvest and another 20 in the cellar to take it from there. Production in 2010 was of course down significantly as it was everywhere else. Yields came in at 24 hectoliters per hectare for the Pinot and 29 for the Chardonnay. Vincent used between 30-80% whole bunches, depending on the wine. Readers who want to learn more might want to check out my video interview with Pierre Vincent on www.erobertparker.com. I will report on the domaine’s 2009s in the April issue. For now let me just say the 2009 Musigny is one of the wines of the vintage.

The 2010 Gevrey-Chambertin La Justice comes across as delicate and fleeting in this vintage. Dried red cherries, crushed flowers and spices are some of the notes that waft from the glass. Overall, this comes across as a bit fragile and most likely best suited for drinking over the next few years. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2030. This is stunning set of wines from Pierre Vincent and Domaine de la Vougeraie. It is impossible to miss the attention to detail at this impeccably run domaine. No expense is spared. It takes 80 people to work the vineyards during harvest and another 20 in the cellar to take it from there. Production in 2010 was of course down significantly as it was everywhere else. Yields came in at 24 hectoliters per hectare for the Pinot and 29 for the Chardonnay. Vincent used between 30-80% whole bunches, depending on the wine. Readers who want to learn more might want to check out my video interview with Pierre Vincent on www.erobertparker.com. I will report on the domaine’s 2009s in the April issue. For now let me just say the 2009 Musigny is one of the wines of the vintage.

The 2010 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Evocelles bursts onto the palate with expressive dark fruit. This is an especially round, generous style of Gevrey. Slightly sauvage notes come through on the finish, but there is more than enough fruit to balance some of the wine’s wilder leanings. Vincent used 50% whole clusters here. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2025.

An intensely floral nose of violets, lavender and lilac serves to add considerable elegance to the very fresh red pinot fruit that is substantially cut with wet stone and earth nuances. The large-bodied and imposingly structured flavors possess outstanding mid-palate density with an abundance of mouth coating and tannin-buffering dry extract, all wrapped in a textured, driving and built to age finish. This brooding and tightly wound effort will require close to 20 years to reach its apogee.

Moderate reduction renders the nose difficult to assess other than to observe a bit of wood spice and aromas that appear to be notably ripe. There is by contrast plenty of verve and power to the brooding, dense and well-muscled flavors that possess ripe and very firm supporting tannins and outstanding length. Vincent noted that he believes that this is the best Clos de Vougeot that he has ever made and I would have to agree that at this early juncture, it is the most promising example that I have tasted at this address.

A spicy and distinctly earthy nose of ripe and very floral wild red berries also displays the pungent sauvage notes of a classic Clos du Roi. There is excellent mid-palate concentration to the palate staining broad-shouldered flavors that possess plenty of muscle and punch on the complex and terrifically long finish. This is a very serious effort that will require all of 15 years to come around and perhaps even a few more before all of the structure is fully resolved.

A fresh but brooding nose combines plenty of stone and soil tones with ripe wild red berries and plenty of floral nuances. There is excellent volume to the energetic, intense and overtly muscular medium weight plus flavors that benefit from the presence of plenty of dry extract that buffers the very firm and phenolically mature tannins on the balanced and impressively complex finish. This robust effort is not without a certain refinement and overall, I very much like the depth of character.

Discreet wood highlights very ripe and impressively dense aromas of red berry liqueur, plum, violet and pungent warm earth. The density of the nose telegraphs the excellent concentration to be found on the very rich, powerful and serious medium-bodied flavors that possess very fine depth on the robust, energetic and moderately rustic finish. This is a classic Nuits that should age effortlessly.