2008 Domaine Jean Grivot, Vosne-Romanee Premier Cru, Les Suchots

Tasted out of barrel at the Domaine. This is even more expressive on the nose than the Beaumonts: beautifully focused with lifted red and black cherries, wild hedgerow, oyster shell blueberry and iodine. The palate does not disappoint with superb clarity and poise, that citric thread once again, lending Etienne’s wines with great freshness and energy. Quite tart towards the finish, where there are more red fruits than black, but the finesse is already present. Sublime. Drink 2010-2025. Tasted November 2009.

Smoky black tea and Latakia tobacco; intensely ripe blackberry and cassis; ocean breeze and quarry dust mark the nose of Grivot’s 2008 Vosne Romanee Les Suchots, then occupy a formidably dense yet persistently refreshing palate. The finish lacks the focus, or saliva-inducing savor of the corresponding Beaumonts. As Grivot trenchantly puts it: “this is a bit imprecise and disorganized,” in large part, he insists, in reaction to recent bottling. That said, the impression is both complex and gripping, indeed this has grand cru reach, and its maritime elements fascinated in the manner familiar from the best of Romanee St.-Vivant, next door. I expect we have here a wine that will merit following for 12-15 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

Bright medium red. Not as precise on the nose today as the Beaux Monts, with some reduction to the aromas of cocoa, smoke, minerals and game. Fat, sweet and full but without quite the detail of the Beaux Monts. Finishes broad, dry and classic. Grivot believes his 2008s lack precision today due to the low pressure (I was there on a humid, overcast day), but I'm finding plenty of lift in these wines.