| Score: |
96-98 NM.
"The 2016 Richebourg Grand Cru has a very harmonious bouquet, a mixture of red and black fruit with hints of crushed violet and freshly shucked oyster shell, later a touch of flint. It is extremely well defined and focused, conveying the sense of aristocracy one seeks from a Richebourg. The palate is medium-bodied with filigreed tannin. There is real density and presence here and it is certainly more expressive than the Romanée-Saint-Vivant at the moment, with palpable tension on the finish. Outstanding. ‘We were affected in Chambolle-Musigny and in Vougeot, also Bourgogne Pinot Noir in front of Chambolle was hit by frost,’ winemaker Charles van Canneyt told me in their capacious cellar in Vougeot. ‘Our parcel in Clos de Vougeot was affected, which was new to us. There is a small river by Petit Vougeot so I was sure we would get frosted there [instead of inside the clos itself]. Most of the Chambolle is 50% down [in quantity] but those on the Morey side were better. Vosne-Romanée and Nuits-Saint-Georges are both not too bad, with less than 10% lost. As a domaine, in total we lost around 30%. There was a lot of mildew pressure but we used the two tractors for treating the vines when it was necessary to do so. It was important to use the tractors and be quick. We began the harvest on 24 September. It was difficult to find a good moment to pick where you had ripe and unripe bunches, though the sanitary conditions were good. We had nothing to sort. As phenolic it was not perfect, I destemmed everything to obtain more purity in the wine. Nobody had started the harvest in Morey-Saint-Denis by the time we had finished the picking! We did a cold maceration to prepare the wines for a gentle extraction and obtain the good tannins. We punched down by hand, not automatic, with more délestage. The malolactic did not finish until September and so the first village crus have only just been racked. We will bottle the generic red Burgundy and village crus just before Christmas.’ This was a strong set of wines hot on the heels of the 2015s, most crus either just a whisker behind last year's counterpart or equal. The range is crowned by a brilliant Richebourg, predictable I know, but that's the truth. Elsewhere there are some strong performances from Les Suchots and Malconsorts, though at village cru level I felt that the frost impacted more seriously and some just missed that energy and spark." Wine Advocate #234, Dec 2017 |