Cote de Nuits Wines

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Menthol and soft wood nuances frame the restrained but spicy aromas of black fruit and high-toned floral scents. There is good richness to the relatively full-bodied generous flavors that possess a silky texture, all wrapped in a lightly structured and impressively persistent finish. There is a bit of wood on the finish that offers only moderate complexity at present though my score assumes that more will develop over the next 3 to 5 years. As was the case when I originally reviewed this ultra-elegant effort, there is noticeable gas on the finish so if you’re going to try a bottle young I would advise decanting it first.Burghound | 92 BHSuchots can also often be quite black fruity in personality, but this is not the case with the 2011 Hudelot version, which offers up a fine bouquet of cherries, blood orange, Vosne spice, fresh herb tones, fine soil nuances and a bit of cedary wood. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and shows off lovely mid-palate depth, with ripe tannins, bright acids and excellent grip and focus on the long and dancing finish. A very elegant and intensely flavored Suchots. (Drink between 2021 - 2050)John Gilman | 92+ JG(picked at 13.1% potential alcohol): Medium red with an amber edge. Highly aromatic nose combines strawberry, musky brown spices, dried flowers and cinnamon. Juicy and penetrating in the mouth, with a bit of unabsorbed CO2 accentuating the tartness of the cranberry, pomegranate and soil flavors. Very savory wine, with enough stuffing and flavor intensity to maintain its balance. Finishes with firm tannins and very good tangy length.Vinous Media | 90 VM

Bright medium red. Expressive nose melds raspberry, cherry, flowers, spices and a hint of smoky game. More energetic than the Suchots, offering a distinctly sappy impression to the concentrated flavors of crushed red berries and minerals. Wonderfully strong and sweet in the middle palate, and long and fresh on the back end, closing with noble tannins and enticing floral lift. This fruit was totally destemmed but there’s no shortage of vibrancy here.Vinous Media | 93 VMThis is also overtly spicy with notes of exotic tea, sandalwood, anise and clove adding considerable interest to the cassis and black pinot fruit nose that is trimmed in just enough wood to notice. The big, rich and impressively concentrated medium weight flavors display an abundance of dry extract levels that partially disguise the substantial muscularity of the dazzlingly complex, powerful and lengthy finish. The Suchots is very good but there is another dimension of depth present here.Burghound | 93 BHDomaine Hudelot-Noëllat’s Malconsorts is always a lovely, lovely wine and it is a pity that there is not more of it in the cellar (sadly, in this vintage there are only two barrels). The 2011 is a classic in the making, jumping from the glass in a beautiful and sappy nose of cherries, raspberries, blood orange, gamebirds, great minerality, roses and cedar. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, pure and wonderfully transparent, with a sappy core of fruit, fine-grained tannins and a very long, tangy finish. A superb example of this great premier cru. (Drink between 2022 - 2050)John Gilman | 93+ JG

I really love the 2012 Suchots from Domaine Hudelot, as the overtly red fruity character of this wine this year is very rare for this terroir and earmarks a very special vintage of the wine. The gorgeous nose offers up scents of cherries, raspberries, a touch of blood orange, Vosne spices, a beautiful base of minerality, woodsmoke and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very transparent, with a sappy core of fruit, fine-grained tannins and a very, very long, soil-driven and tangy finish. Superb juice. (Drink between 2020 - 2050)John Gilman | 93+ JGThe 2012 Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Les Suchots comes from a 0.45-hectare holding planted back in 1920. It has a slightly muted nose out of barrel, but it unfurls revealing earthy, mossy scents with aeration. The palate is clean and fresh, but somehow foursquare and a little conservative compared to some of the domaine’s other premier crus. You get the impression that this Les Suchots is hiding something up its sleeve, whereas this vineyard is habitually one of the most expressive in its youth.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 89-91 RPBright medium red. Ripe, alluring aromas and flavors of wild strawberry, raspberry and earth. Sweet, fine-grained and enveloping, showing lovely energy and density and still holding its fruit in reserve. Finishes fresh and firm-edged, with full, fine-grained tannins and excellent length.Vinous Media | 91 VMA spicy and notably ripe nose features aromas of dark pinot fruit, red currant, blood orange and an abundance of spice elements that include anise and sandalwood. There is an elegant mouth feel to the luscious and generously proportioned middle weight flavors that possess a velvety texture, all wrapped in a beautifully complex finish. If there is a concern though it’s that this very firmly structured effort feels as though it may turn secondary relatively early in its evolution. As such I underscore my concern with a question mark because it will certainly require more than 8 years of bottle age to resolve the tannins yet the fruit may no longer be there.Burghound | 90 BH

The 2014 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots has a really quite lovely bouquet with bright red berry fruit, a touch of violet and a hint of wet gravel. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, quite saline in the mouth with a subtle marine influence, a touch of spice with a long, slightly earthy finish. It delivers on the promise that it demonstrated from barrel and will be drinking beautifully for 15-20 years.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RPSuchots is another Vosne premier cru that is usually very black fruity out of the blocks, and interestingly, this is absolutely the case with this classic 2014 version from Charles van Canneyt. The bouquet soars from the glass in a very elegant blend of dark berries, black cherries, raw cocoa, a superb base of dark soil tones, gamebirds, cardamom, cedar and a bit of fresh herbs in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and again, very much defined by its beautiful minerality at the outset, with a sappy core of black fruit, fine-grained tannins and a long, tangy and impeccably balanced finish. I love the tension here between the fruit, soil and acids. (Drink between 2021 - 2055)John Gilman | 93 JGBright medium red. Sexy, inviting aromas of sweet raspberry, cocoa powder and soil. Plush, broad and seamless but with good medicinal reserve to its dark fruit, licorice, spice and earth flavors. Most impressive today on the very long, spicy, rising finish, where the ripe tannins saturate the entire mouth. Conveys an impression of density without weight, like the better examples of the vintage.Vinous Media | 92+ VMThis is closed to the point of being all but mute as the grudging nose is composed by a collection of plum, violet, earth and sandalwood aromas. There is good richness, volume and concentration to the velvety middle weight flavors that terminate in a suave and seductive finale where the supporting tannins appear to be slightly riper.Burghound | 92 BH

(this vineyard was planted about a hundred years ago, and features a high percentage of millerandage): Bright, dark red. Very ripe but reticent aromas of black cherry, black raspberry and dark chocolate. Densely packed, very ripe, broad and fine-grained but showing little in the way of easy sweetness in the early going. Like the Chambolle Charmes, this is quite closed today and not yet showing its inherent complexity. But the wine’s richness of material is already clear. Finishes with substantial tannic clout. "Always a blacker, denser wine than the Beaumonts," notes van Canneyt.Vinous Media | 91-94 VMIn contrast to the parcel of Beaumonts that is at the very top of the vineyard, the family’s plot of vines in Suchots are down low in the vineyard, next to the cemetery in the village. Suchots is usually one of the most black fruity premier crus in Vosne-Romanée, but the 2015 from the domaine has plenty of red fruit tones in its superb bouquet of red and black raspberries, lovely Vosne spice tones, black minerality, raw cocoa, a touch of bonfire and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and beautifully pure on the attack, with stunning transparency, a sappy core, fine-grained tannins and a long, complex and very soil-driven finish. This is one of the finest vintages of young Suchots chez Hudelot that I have ever tasted! (Drink between 2025-2065)John Gilman | 94 JGThe 2015 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots (which hails from a parcel planted in 1910) is excellent, opening in the glass with a deep bouquet of cassis, cherry, smoked duck and burnt orange, elegantly framed by a discrete application of new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, silky and ample, with serious depth and dimension, juicy acids and ripe, fine-grained tannins. While its serious structural chassis is nicely cloaked in concentrated fruit, this Suchots will benefit from a good decade of bottle age.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RPDiscreet but not invisible wood serves as a relatively neutral backdrop for the exuberantly spicy and again very ripe aromas soy, hoisin, black raspberry, plum and floral scents. The generously proportioned and amply rich medium-bodied flavors brim with dry extract that imparts a sappy mouthfeel to the velvety but firm, serious and youthfully austere finale that makes clear this is going to require extended cellaring. In sum, this is an excellent Suchots. (Drink starting 2030)Burghound | 93 BH

The 2016 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru has a slightly meaty/feral bouquet, just a hint of gaminess that might become more conspicuous with bottle age. Otherwise I find this well defined and with flattering red cherry fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin. There is a fine bead of acidity here, a pleasant fleshy mouthfeel towards the finish and a residual salinity that beckons you back for the next sip. This represents another impressive wine from Charles Van Canneyt. Tasted blind at the 2016 Burgfest tasting.Vinous Media | 95 VMThe 2016 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaumonts has an enticing and yet understated bouquet with Morello cherries, wild strawberry and rose petal scents, quite complex if not intense. There is something almost nonchalant here. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, crisp and focused, the chalkiness of the terroir coming through and lending energy on the long and tensile finish. Excellent.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92-94 RPA gorgeous 2016 that readers should snatch up is the 2016 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts, which comes from a vineyard just to the north of Richebourg. It was destemmed and brought up in a mix of new, once-, and twice-used barrels. It shows a ripe, rounded, softer style that still carries plenty of structure, offering beautiful darker fruits, flowery incense, spice, and forest, earthy notes as well as a touch of orange rind. Beautifully textured, medium to full-bodied, and balanced, this gorgeous Vosne- Romanée is ideal for drinking any time over the coming 10-15 years. It’s not one to hide away for two decades, but a few years of bottle age certainly won’t hurt.Jeb Dunnuck | 94 JDHere the aromatic profile is markedly different with its dense dark berry fruit, tea, spice and violet aromas that are trimmed in just enough wood to notice. Like the Petits Vougeots the positively gorgeous mouthfeel of the medium weight flavors is satiny and delivers outstanding persistence on the balanced and intensely mineral-driven finale. This is sufficiently supple that it could be approached young or held up to a decade first.Burghound | 91-94 BHClear bright fresh purple, fresh and racy fruit, purity and intensity. An interesting mix of different dark fruits, raspberry, blueberry and black cherry. There is good concentration across the palate. I would not have liked to see this picked any later but it works very well as it is, with a touch of salinity at the back. Jasper Morris | 94 JMCharles Van Canneyt’s vines are in the upper part of Beaux Monts where the soils are thinner, so although this is never the most opulent example of this climat, the 2016 is lovely. Aromas of ripe, dark fruits, smoked duck and rich spice precede a cool, medium-full wine, its ample core of cool fruit underpinned by a tense, chalky chassis of tannin.Decanter | 92 DECThe 2016 Beaumonts from Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat is a fine wine in the making. The bouquet delivers a fine, youthful constellation of dark berries, black cherries, bitter chocolate, dark soil tones, venison, woodsmoke and a deft touch of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and already nicely velvety on the attack, with a fine core, lovely soil inflection and a long, ripely tannic and seamless finish. This will be lovely, as it starts to show some fine upper register Vosne spice tones with air. (Drink between 2024 - 2065)John Gilman | 92 JG