Red Wines

wines

Rich and ripe Pinot Noir, black in color, thick in texture, pumping out the flavors. Silky midpalate reveals the pedigree of this wine. Loaded with sweet blackberry character that goes on to a long finish. Drink now through 2010.Wine Spectator | 93 WSBright, deep ruby-red. Complex nose melds violet, bitter chocolate, earth, meat and a hint of medicinal austerity. Dense, rich and thick; a wine of compelling richness and sweetness, but also solidly structured despite its accessibility today. Finishes with lush but firm tannins and exhilarating notes of cassis and violet. Lovely pinot noir.Vinous Media | 92 VM(Gros Frère et Soeur Richebourg Grand Cru Red) Extremely ripe with powerful black fruit, wood toast and Vosne spice aromas with tannic, robust flavors yet good finesse on the long finish. This makes a firm statement and has good size to go with the penetrating fruit. (Drink between 2009-2016)Burghound | 90 BH

(Domaine Anne-Françoise Gros Richebourg Grand Cru Red) Very generous wood fights somewhat at present with the cool, spicy and highly complex nose of red currant, plum and violet aromas that is very much in keeping with the equally spicy rich, full-bodied and tautly muscled flavors that display ample minerality on the balanced, long and linear finish. This is a very serious effort with fine but dense tannins that will require 15 to 20 years for them to fully resolve so this isn’t a precocious Riche. (Drink starting 2023)Burghound | 91-94 BHSurpassing the 2007, Anne Gros’s 2008 Richebourg Grand Cru is showing very well, unfurling in the glass with scents of cassis, cherries, dried flowers, grilled meats and spices. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, ample and nicely concentrated, with melting tannins, racy acids that are elegantly cloaked in succulent fruit and a long, penetrating finish. It makes for dramatic, head-turning drinking today, so there seems little reason to wait.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RP(Richebourg- Domaine A-F. Gros) The 2008 Richebourg from A-F. Gros is fairly oaky, but with its wood much better integrated into the main body of the wine on both the nose and palate and posing no threat to the ultimate balance of the wine. The classy nose jumps from the glass in a blend of plums, black cherries, cocoa powder, orange zest, woodsmoke and spicy new wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and nicely transparent, with a fine core of fruit, ripe tannins and fine length and grip on the youthful finish. There is plenty of wood in this wine, but it is seamlessly integrated already and does not detract at all from the overall pleasure that the wine delivers. A very good example. (Drink between 2018-2040)John Gilman | 92+ JG

The 2018 Richebourg Grand Cru is dark in colour, more so than A.F. Gros’s. Dark berry fruit, pressed rose petals, sous-bois and a touch of Indian ink. This seems to expand in the glass, likewise there is certainly some Brettanomyces evident here. The palate is medium-bodied with fleshy ripe, quite saturated tannins, orange zest and hints of marmalade, taut and fresh with real weight and density towards the effervescent finish. There is a palpable sense of grandeur here that I do not find in Gros’s, yet the bottom line is that it depends on what happens to the brett. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 red tasting.Vinous Media | 95 VMA very dense saturated if slightly evolved crimson colour. A significant weight of brawny fruit. There is muscle in this wine, and maybe some stems too. Wonderful generosity behind. There is the faintest hint of bacterial reduction but the quality and intensity of fruit swarms all over it. Brilliant weight and length. Would have been touching 98 points if completely pristine and is still exceptionally complex. Drink from 2035.Jasper Morris | 95 JMAn appealingly floral-infused combination, and particularly violet and rose petal, exhibits notes of black raspberry, pomegranate and cassis along with plenty of spice elements. The rich and relatively full-bodied flavors possess fine intensity and good minerality, all wrapped in a somewhat grippy finish that doesn’t display the length that it normally does. We’ll see if this harmonizes in time.Burghound | 89-91 BH