2008 Vosne Romanee Les Suchots

The 2008 Vosne-Romanee Les Suchots is subtle, perfumed and delicate. It is a pretty, understated wine, but here I prefer the 2009 for its greater density and richness, which should provide a wider and longer drinking window of enjoyment. Sweet spices, flowers and licorice linger on the fleeting finish. Anticipated maturity: 2018-2026. Domaine de L’Arlot has been an organic estate for ten years. In 2009 Olivier Leriche began harvesting on September 7 and ended around the 15th. The wines were vinified with a higher than normal percentage of whole clusters and spent 20-25 days on the skins. I tasted most of the 2009s from barrel. Leriche planned to bottle the wines with no fining or filtration. I also tasted a handful of 2008s. The 2008s were bottled between April and July 2010 (a bit on the late side because of the lengthy malos) with no fining or filtration. Various American importers, including: A Daniel Johnnes Selection imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY, tel. (516) 677 9300; Classic Wine Imports, Norwood, MA; tel. (781) 278-2000; Triage Wines Inc., Seattle, WA; tel. (503) 236-6262; Chambers & Chambers, San Francisco, CA; tel. (415) 642-5500; Ansonia Wines, Washington D.C.; tel. (202) 506-4215; USA Wine Imports, New York, NY; tel. (212) 941-7133

Palish red. Complex, ineffable, soil-driven nose hints at blood orange, exotic flowers, spices, pepper, cocoa powder and earth. Supple, juicy and penetrating; not hard but quite youthfully taut. Wonderfully nuanced wine with compelling inner-mouth perfume and a slowly building, very long and pure finish. This shows even more lift than a barrel sample did a year ago.

(60% vendange entier Reduced nose shows a chocolatey ripeness. Fat, lush and full, with complex, expressive flavors of musky raspberry, strawberry, mocha, herbs, spices and crushed stone. This boasts a wonderfully silky texture for 2008 but there's plenty of shape here, not to mention a firm spine of acids and tannins. Finishes with a peppery quality and a continuing element of crushed stone. I can easily imagine this wine and the Clos des For e ts Saint-Georges shutting down in the bottle for a period of years.