2001 Domaine René Engel Vosne-Romanée Les Brulees 1er Cru

It is almost a decade since I last tasted the 2001 Vosne-Romanée les Brulees from Domaine Rene Engel. Here, it has a quite beautiful, quixotic and entrancing bouquet with scents of mulberry and dried fig joining the raspberry preserve aromas. There is a subtle marine influence that emerges with continued aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly abraded tannin, suggesting that this has reached its plateau of maturity or even has the end of that plateau in sight. But after 15 years, it has retained that beguiling sense of harmony and the finish is very sustained. All I would say is that compared to other Engel wines I have recently tasted, it just seems a little frayed around the edges.