2009 Domaine Jean Grivot, Vosne-Romanee Premier Cru, Les Suchots

Bright medium red. Less flamboyant on the nose but also livelier than the Beaux Monts, with tangy cherry and raspberry aromas lifted by minerality. The palate delivers superb tension and cut for the vintage, with a hint of menthol austerity and little in the way of easy sweetness to the berry and mineral flavors. Finishes with noble tannins and outstanding sneaky length. This very firmly structured wine should repay a decade of cellaring.

Tasted out of barrel at the Domaine. This has a more opulent, perhaps exotic, gourmand bouquet compared to the Beaumonts, with very fine delineation and poise, hints of dried blood just in the background. The palate has a taut entry, good acidity and backbone here, lovely depth of flavour with red-berried fruit, dried blood and a touch of dried orange peel towards the persistent, grippy, quite masculine finish. Excellent. Quintessential Suchots. Tasted November 2010.

The 2009 Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots is likely to require considerable patience. A dark core of introspective fruit occasionally emerges, but this remains reticent and inward. The wine will not come to the taster, rather readers will have to seek out the qualities that lie within this superbly pedigreed, exceptional wine. The finish is long, weightless and totally divine.

Outstanding. A classic Vosne nose that is much like that of the Beaux Monts but more deeply pitched and even spicier with black cherry hints and a seemingly spice box of different nuances that continue onto the suave, rich and velvety flavors that are wrapped around an even firmer tannic spine on the powerful and exceptionally long finish. This is less refined than its stable mate but it's more concentrated and more masculine. A big and serious Suchots but a beautifully balanced effort built to see its 30th birthday in style. Highly recommended. Drink: 2017+
-Burghound.com, Issue 29. Tasted: Jan 01, 2008

(92-95 pts)
Sweet spot outstanding. Moderate reduction blocks an evaluation of the nose but the ripe, rich, generous and fleshy medium-bodied flavors are pure silk and velvet on the lacy and stunningly long finish. This is easily the most seductive wine in the range yet the buried tannins will permit this to have a long life. In short, this is a textbook Suchots. Drink: 2021+
-Allen Meadows, Burghound.com, Issue 41.Tasted: Jan 01, 2011

Robert Parker''s Wine Advocate 02/05/2011

The 2009 Vosne-Romanee Les Suchots is likely to require considerable patience. A dark core of introspective fruit occasionally emerges, but this remains reticent and inward. The wine will not come to the taster, rather readers will have to seek out the qualities that lie within this superbly pedigreed, exceptional wine. The finish is long, weightless and totally divine. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2034.

This is a gorgeous set of wines from Etienne and Marielle Grivot that captures the essence of several of Vosne’s most illustrious vineyards. Grivot encourages slow malos and leaves the wines on the lees for approximately 15 months after the vinification. New oak ranges from 15-20% for the villages, 30-50% for the 1ers and 40-70% for the grands crus. Based on the wines I tasted 2009 looks like a much more consistent vintage than 2008. The finest 2008s are also well worth considering, but there are more highs and lows, especially in the entry part of the range. ()