Vosne-Romanée

In an effort to shed some light on how I study for WSET Diploma Course’s D3 exam, Le Club des Vins is running a series of posts covering wine regions. Today’s topic: Vosne-Romanée

📍 Location

Vosne-Romanée is one of the famous villages of the Côte de Nuits, arguably the best known wine village of the region. There is this saying that “there are no common wines in Vosne-Romanée”. And even if you find one, it’s the winemaker’s fault for not making a better wine. It’s all here. ⠀⠀⠀

In a nutshell

Burguny, France
Limestone mixed with clayey marls
6 Grands Crus vineyards and 14 Premiers Crus
Pinot noir

☁️ Terroir

Limestone mixed with clayey marls. Depth varies from some tens of centimeters to one meter deep (@vinsdebourgogne).⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

🌋 Vineyards

Vosne-Romanée is home to 6 Grands Crus vineyards and 14 Premiers Crus. The best vineyards are located on the mid-slope, enjoying the best exposition and terroir. This is where you find the Grands Crus, starting with La Tâche north of Nuits-Saint-Georges followed by La Grande Rue, La Romanée, Romanée-Conti, Romanée St-Vivant and Richebourg. Name-dropping galore. After these grand crus, it’s time for the premiers crus to enter the stage, followed by the Grands Crus of the next village, Flagey-Echézaux. Please see @decanter for more! ⠀

🍇 Grapes & style

There’s only one queen and it’s pinot noir. I didn’t think I’d ever taste DRC, but then it happened: DRC La Tâche 1999. Such an epic wine, it’s hard to find the words to describe it. So intensely perfumed – aromas of cherry, ceder, forest floor, roses – perfectly balanced with the still very vivid acidity. Best day of my life! ⠀

🍕 Producers

If you want to know Burgundy, you not only have to get to know the villages, the vineyards, the premier and grand cru differences, but also the producer. The latter is probably the most important piece of information.

💡 Something you didn’t know

For the sake of complicating things a bit more, let’s compare La Tâche (6ha in Vosne-Romanée) and Echézeaux (38ha in Flagey-Echézeaux -). Not only do they differ in size, the latter is also owned by 80 producers, whilst La Tâche is owned by just one: the legendary Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

Your turn now

I always put a new region on instagram first. If you have any additions or comments on a region, please do share. You can drop a comment on instagram or on the website – see below. Your help is much appreciated!