Tasted at the Domaine. The Beaumonts is certainly more lifted on the nose than the Brulees with lively, expressive red fruits: strawberry, damson and cranberry, with a faint cooked meat note underneath. Very well defined. Very vibrant on the palate with more harmony than Brulees, focused and quite linear on the tightly-wound finish that has good length, but will need time in bottle. Drink 2012-2025. Tasted January 2009.

Here the nose expresses a completely different personality compared to the Brûlées as this is cooler, more discreet and more reserved though there is a similar breadth of spice elements present that clearly identify the wine as a fine Vosne. The linear, direct and more obviously mineral-driven medium-bodied flavors are strikingly energetic and also stain the palate on the lingering finish. Like the straight Vosne villages, this is Cistercian in its restraint at present and wonderfully classy.

Bright medium red. Currant, plum and raspberry aromas are complicated by game and flowers. A bit tighter and more gripping than the Boudots; less lush today but showing good juicy intensity and definition of flavor and enticing minerality. Finishes fresh, firm and persistent.

Black tea, iris, and game in the nose of Grivot’s 2007 Vosne Romanee Les Beaumonts segue into a mouth-coating, caressing, yet somehow at the same time invigorating display of tea, red berries, and savory meat stock. This should be worth following for 6-8 years. “We never want rapid malos,” notes Etienne Grivot, “but those in 2008 were not especially late or long by our standards – no longer than in 2002 or 2005. And I didn’t sulfur the wines when they were completed, because the volatile acids were really low and the pHs were very good” (i.e. low). Instead, most of Grivot’s 2008s were only sulfured after the 2009 harvest. Grivot gave them at least 3 weeks in tank before bottling, which took place between January and early April. Based on my intuitions and Grivot’s testimony, several of his 2008s were suffering significantly from post-bottling depression when I tasted them in late April, so readers should bear this is mind and recognize that my scores, in isolation, might prove misleadingly low. Grivot characterizes the 2008s as “dynamic but introverted” and “less accessible” than either the 2006s or 2007s, but that contrast appears to have been exacerbated by circumstances on this occasion. (In view of the delightful showing of two Grivot 2007s in April, I regret that I simply wasn’t able to taste more wines from that collection in the time available to me.) Importer: Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel. (212) 419-1400