2008 Domaine Emmanuel Rouget Vosne-Romanée Cros Parantoux 1er Cru

Full medium ruby. Superripe aromas of cassis, bitter chocolate, peony, Oriental spices and new oak. Dense, chewy and tactile; very primary, crunchy fruit flavors of raspberry and black cherry are a bit clenched today but not aggressive. Finishes very long and powerful, with serious wood tannins that will require a good decade of patience. Rouget's fermentations in 2008 took place at cool temperature, but the wines spent up to 26 days on their skins.

“The 2008 Vosne-Romanee Cros Parantoux,” reports Rouget, “finished its malo at the beginning of February, the same time as the 2009!” For that reason, I tasted it still on its fine lees, having never been racked or sulfured. (“Not that I’m one of these ‘bio-’ low-sulfur people,” he hastened to add.) Lily-like, decadent floral perfume, cassis, framboise, holly berry, and mint hover spirituously over the glass. Vanilla and resin hints for the (100%) new wood mingle with liqueur-like black fruits as well as pungently invigorating red currant and dried cranberry. Here is the vibratory, interactive intensity and complexity one derives from the best young wines of its vintage, with chalk, stone, salt, and iodine all serving to set-off the wine’s candied yet acidulated fruit character. This should intrigue and delight for a dozen or more years. I tasted Emmanuel Rouget’s 2008s from barrel in April and he was planning to bottle them within a month. According to one of Rouget’s favorite descriptors, the vintage was “tres particulaire,” not to mention challenging. “I harvested at an average of 12%” potential alcohol, he reports, “and chaptalized less than a degree. That sufficed. It was more important to harvest while there was still good weather and besides, it was already cold. There was a lot of acidity, but that conveys a superb equilibrium and level of freshness. The wines really exhibit the plenitude of Pinot.” Rouget rejects what he acknowledges is a widespread comparison of 2008 with 1996, suggesting that the latter “was more marked by sunshine, and resulted in less-noticeable acidity.” (As noted in the introduction to this report, he compares 2008 with 1986.) Importer: Martine’s Wines, Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-0400

“The 2008 Vosne-Romanee Cros Parantoux,” reports Rouget, “finished its malo at the beginning of February, the same time as the 2009!” For that reason, I tasted it still on its fine lees, having never been racked or sulfured. (“Not that I’m one of these ‘bio-’ low-sulfur people,” he hastened to add.) Lily-like, decadent floral perfume, cassis, framboise, holly berry, and mint hover spirituously over the glass. Vanilla and resin hints for the (100%) new wood mingle with liqueur-like black fruits as well as pungently invigorating red currant and dried cranberry. Here is the vibratory, interactive intensity and complexity one derives from the best young wines of its vintage, with chalk, stone, salt, and iodine all serving to set-off the wine’s candied yet acidulated fruit character. This should intrigue and delight for a dozen or more years. Jun 2010, www.robertparker.com