2009 Lucien Le Moine Vosne-Romanée Malconsorts 1er Cru

The 2009 Vosne-Romanee Les Malconsorts caresses the palate with seamless integration of fruit, acidity and tannin. Powerful, yet impeccable in its elegance, the Malconsorts shows incredible grace from start to finish, with palate staining intensity in its rich close. This is superb juice that only suffers from the wines tasted before and after. Anticipated maturity: 2017-2029. These wines from proprietor Mounir Saouma are impressive. Saouma sources small lots of wine from the best sites in Burgundy and does all of the post-alcoholic fermentation elevage in his cellar in Beaune. Saouma’s approach calls for long, slow malos, extended contact on the gross lees and no fining or filtration prior to bottling. Saouma bottles an eye-popping 60 different wines, some sourced from more than one grower. Count me as a fervent believer in terroir. As much as I subscribe to the belief that specific plots of land can confer unique qualities to wines, the reality is that a variety of other factors are just as important, including the talent of the winemaker and the ambient qualities of the cellars in which wines are raised. What amazes me most about these wines – aside from the obviously very high quality – is that there is without question a distinctive house style that emerges across the range, despite the fact that they come from different sources and are acquired as wine rather than fruit. Saouma likes to describe his cellar as a library of Burgundy’s finest terroirs. That’s as good a description as any for these uniformly outstanding, compelling wines. Importer: Vintus LLC, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (914) 769-3000, Atherton Imports, Menlo Park, CA; tel. (650) 328-6639

Deep, bright red. Pungent, high-toned aromas of raspberry, crushed stone, tobacco, orange zest and Earl Grey tea, plus a whiff of pine. Juicy and imploded, with electric definition to its penetrating mineral-driven flavors. A baby today but finishes with outstanding length, clarity and perfume.