Vosne-Romanee

Vosne-Romanée is a small peaceful village lying amidst the vineyards whose name  was added to that of the village. It does not impress the visitor with grandeur or history, but then the wines do that job! There are six Grand Crus, with the top dog - at least in price terms - being Romanee-Conti, undoubtedly the most expensive Pinot Noir wine in the world.

Leaving aside the Grand Crus of Echezaux which we have covered separately, there are three small monopole Grand Crus, and three quite substantial ones.

• • Romanee-Conti - 1.81 ha, the monopoly of the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, barely 500 cases are produced in a good year. Clive Coates describes it beautifully : "the purest, most aristocratic and most intense example of Pinot Noir you could possibly imagine".
  • La Romanee - 0.85 ha, the monopoly of the Comte Liger-Belair
  • La Grande Rue - 1.65 ha, the monopoly of Domaine Francois Lamarche
  • Romanee-St.-Vivant - 9.5 ha, light and fragrant, this is a beautiful wine that charms rather than impresses, but retains great intensity.
  • Richebourg - 8 ha, often rated as the best of the non-monopole Grand Crus, this is a full and rich wine.
  • La Tache - 6 ha, is usually finer and more spicy than Richebourg, but does not often possess the same weight - more silk than velvet!

As well as this awesome array of Grand Crus, Vosne Romanee is blessed with eleven Premier Crus, at least half of which can produce outstanding wines. The style here is for pure Pinot Noir fuit, with lovely perfume and oriental spice notes. I would pick out the following 1er Crus, which - from good producers - regularly give superb wines:

• • Aux Malconsorts
  • Les Gaudichots
  • Les Petits-Monts
  • Cros-Parentoux
  • Aux Brulees
  • Les Beaux-Monts
  • Les Suchots