Domaine Dujac, Vosne Romanee 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts 2007

robert_parker90

Reviewed by: David Schildknecht

Smoked meat, star anise, clove, black tea, and dark berries in the nose of Dujac’s 2007 Vosne-Romanee Les Malconsorts set the themes for a palate expansive and with lasting intensity despite a certain lightness of color and weight. There is a lot of class here – as, of course, there should be for its vineyard and price – and it can be enjoyed anytime over the next 4-6 years, I suspect. The Dujac 2008s were not racked until last December, and bottling took place January through March. “The malic acid numbers were high-ish, but not significantly higher than in, say, 2006 or 2001,” says Jeremy Seysses in an effort to explain what he admitted were “for us, excessively late malos. I have a feeling it was a lack of nutrients that were wash out,” he continues, since, after all, “it rained a lot in 2008” with, he adds, “poor fruit set proving to be the vintage’s saving grace. I think we would actually have had less to harvest (i.e. worth keeping) if we had had a better fruit set. There was rot, but can you find it in any of the wines? That’s a credit to how far Burgundy has come along in terms of sorting” (which Dujac does exclusively in the vineyard, not on sorting tables – the name of their U.S. importer ironically notwithstanding). “I didn’t love my lack of options in 2007,” says Seysses of the preceding season, “so we picked early – earlier even than in 2003.” In vinification “we decided not to force too much, and just to keep it charming,” which is exactly how I thought the wines turned out. “At Domaine Dujac, we’re never been that attached to deep color, so we’re quite tolerant (in that regard), and the least thing we wanted to do was make hard wines. I de-stemmed more (than usual, or than in 2008). The fruit felt fragile, so in barrel I kept the wines under a bit more free sulfur than usual, which reinforced their lightness.” Seysses opines that 2007 was not a year in which old selections displayed their overall superiority to clones, because “if yo(‘re Pinots) were riper earlier, you were ripe while it was raining,” whereas in 2008 you could scarcely get too much ripeness. Importer: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel. (415) 491-4724

vinous91

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 2007 Vosne-Romanée Aux Malconsorts 1er Cru is tasted from magnum. It has a similar bouquet to the debut 2006 with a slightly ferrous tincture, although there is a little more intensity here compared to previous vintages, hints of tomato vine developing alongside the light, tertiary red fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with tart red cherries and strawberry. This is a pretty Aux Malconsorts, more appealing than the 2006 with a lithe red cherry and strawberry finish, orange rind furnishing the aftertaste. Tasted at Flint Wines's Domaine Dujac tasting in London.