Wine Advisor
Anne Gros, Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru Le Grand Maupertui 1996
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Pierre Rovani
This black-colored wine offers aromas of creamy red cherries and Asian spices imbued with charred oak. An explosion of super-extracted, and massively-powerful cassis, blackberries, and brambleberries assault the palate in this full-bodied, chewy-textured, and unbelievably dense wine. It is inconceivable to imagine a more concentrated and intensely packed wine. It formidably long finish displays satiny yet firm tannins. In ten or more years if this wine has evolved, my score may appear pathetically low. Projected maturity: 2004-2012+. Readers looking for ruby-colored, delicate, refined, and elegant wines to drink over the next decade are well-advised to shop elsewhere. Domaine Anne Gros' offerings are highly extracted monsters. Anne Gros is pushing the extraction and concentration envelope of this wine to uncharted limits. This inky, hugely-dense, and highly-structured wine may, in time, evolve into a stellar Burgundy, meriting a significantly higher rating than the one I've provided, but a wine of such sheer size and weight does not always age gracefully. Time will tell. A Peter Vezan Selection (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-42-65-42-93).
About the Producer
Subtle, harmonious, supple—Burgundy from Domaine Anne Gros is intimately tied with the elegant and poised character of wines from Vosne-Romanée. While each cru faithfully reflects its terroir, it is terroir as translated through Gros’ expert touch, offering richer aromatics, rounder curves, silkier tannins. The combination is irresistible, so much so that Gros’ very limited production is snapped up by global collectors faster and faster each vintage. Anne Gros simply is one of the top winemakers in Burgundy today, which explains why her wines have inspired such a cult-like following. Importantly for us, Gros personifies the sort of winemaker with whom we have always sought to work: an artisan with a clear vision of her terroir and talents, and the grace to be humble despite the weight of Burgundian tradition and family history. Anne Gros took over her father’s winery (Domaine François Gros) in the late 1980s. Yet there have been Gros family members in Vosne since the 1830s; land holdings have split among family members for generations. Today, there are four separate wineries in Vosne owned by the extended Gros family, including Domaine Anne Gros: Gros Frere et Soeur, Anne-Francoise Gros and Michel Gros, all of whom are Anne’s cousins.
