2004 Vosne-Romanée Les Barreaux

Anne Gros described 2005 as "the easiest year I have ever had, in terms of the work in the vines, the growing season itself, the health of the vines and the vinification. The wines are fresh thanks to excellent acidity. There's a good grain to the tannins; they're not the austere wines of a dry year. Everything is in balance." Gros did a fairly short 12-day cuvaison in 2005, following her longest cuvaison to date in 2004. She never exceeds 32oC for the fermentation and sometimes the maximum is more like 30o. (A Peter Vezan selection; importers include North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY; and The Stacole Company, Boca Raton, FL; also imported by Atherton Wine Imports, Atherton, CA)

Anne Gros told me that she was afraid of getting a hail taste to the wines in 2004. The fermentations were long and troubled, she said, and at the beginning she had the impression that the colors were not stable. But although the color took a long time to come, she told me, now it's stable and normal. The pHs were a bit higher than usual, though, and she planned to finish the bottling before Christmas. Gros still does not own a table de trie, preferring instead to eliminate less desirable grapes in the vines. Incidentally, she told me she loves the 2003s for their "profound richness, volume and balance, and for their cote solaire of black fruits and spices. We had a lot of tiny, superconcentrated grapes, but they were not grilled by the sun. " (A Peter Vezan selection; importers include North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY; and The Stacole Company, Boca Raton, FL; also imported by Atherton Wine Imports, Atherton, CA)