Francois Confuron-Gindre Vosne-Romanee 2019

The village Vosne-Romanée is the heart of Domaine François Confuron-Gindre — the wine that most completely expresses what six generations of farming the Côte de Nuits's most hallowed terroir can produce at the village level. The cuvée is assembled from ten parcels of village vines totalling a mere 2.37 hectares — old vines of 30 to 70 years of age spread across lieux-dits including Vigneaux, Le Pré de la Folie, Aux Communes, Les Jacquines, Aux Champs Perdrix and Les Rouges du Dessus, this last a lieu-dit classified as premier cru just above Échezeaux that in small quantities finds its way into the village blend. Edouard Confuron explains that all three village Vosne cuvées are made the same way — in the end it is the terroir that creates the difference — with 20% new oak and 20% whole-bunch vinification over 18 months, a balanced approach that lets the diversity of the ten parcels express themselves without interference.

An elegantly dark, intense cherry-coloured Vosne-Romanée — suave, dense and complex, with notes of black fruits and a well-adjusted toasty touch; the palate solid and round, with ample and fleshy tannins and great persistence. This is precisely what a great village Vosne should be: not a simplified or diluted version of what sits above it in the hierarchy, but a genuinely complete wine in its own right — perfumed, precise, and possessed of the effortless depth that only old vines on one of Burgundy's greatest village terroirs can reliably deliver. One of the most compelling arguments for why this long under-the-radar domaine deserves serious attention.