2012 Vosne Romanee Les Petits Monts

Tasted blind at the annual "Burgfest" tasting in Beaune. The 2012 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Petits Monts is a brilliant wine from Louis-Michel Liger-Belair. Here, just a couple of months on from our last encounter, it has a very well defined, expressive and quite complex bouquet befitting a premier cru vineyard. There is a fine thread of mineralité here interwoven through the aromatics and then through the palate, binding everything together. There are fine tannins, plenty of sappy red berry fruit and superb tension on the finish that just needs to muster a touch more persistence. Otherwise this is a wonderful wine.

(100% destemmed): Bright red with ruby highlights. Knockout nose combines raspberry, crushed stone and flowers. Juicy, precise and utterly primary, with terrific calcaire energy and inner-mouth perfume to the flavors of black cherry, dark berries and violet. Offers a terrific combination of lift and medicinal reserve. Finishes extremely long and scented, with a piquant quality that stimulates the taste buds. It's easy to see why Liger-Belair did not need to include whole clusters here.

The 2012 Vosne-Romanée Les Petits Monts is one of the least expressive of the Vosne 1er Crus in this range. Cool, mineral-inflected beams of minerality run through the wine, providing energy and intensity. Iron, slate and chalk are some of the notes that inform the pointed, intense finish. There is so much going on in the glass, yet it is pretty clear the best is yet to come.