Vosne-Romanée Vigneux 2022

Village. Les Vigneux, Vosne-Romanée. Pinot Noir from 0.34 ha, bought in 1999. Planted in 1986, the youngest vines in the book, 40 this year. Guyot simple. Shallow gravel over clay-limestone. About 35 hl/ha. North side of the village, the Vougeot side, below Les Suchots premier cru, near Les Bas Maizières. The lieu-dit has several owners; this is the only wine declared and bottled under its name. Sixteen months in barrel, a quarter new.

Vosne is the home village and the one every Burgundy drinker knows by its grands crus: Romanée-Conti, La Tâche, Richebourg, all on the mid-slope south and west of the village. The village land runs along the bottom, between the premiers crus and the road. Vigneux is at the north end, where Vosne meets Vougeot and Flagey, directly below Les Suchots, the largest premier cru in Vosne, and beside Les Bas Maizières, a few hundred meters from the Clos de Vougeot wall. This is the part of Vosne that’s gravelly rather than clay-rich: alluvial wash from the Combe d’Orveau above Suchots, which is why the soil is shallow and stony on a flat site. Gravel drains, stresses the vine, cuts the berry size. Vosne’s signature is spice and perfume on a plush frame; Vigneux gives the perfume with a slimmer frame. The cellar is on the D974 at the edge of the village, so this is the parcel closest to home.

Fully de-stemmed with two thirds of the berries kept whole, a week cold before fermentation starts on its own, warmed slowly with few punch-downs. Aged sixteen months in barrel on the fine lees under CO₂, sulfur added late, racked once before bottling.