2013 Richebourg Grand Cru

Anne Gros told me that she was "uncomfortable" with the lateness of the harvest in 2013 and did a Draconian selection, but now she likes "the touch" of the tannins. The wines were very irregular in their development and in their malolactic fermentations, but Gros did her normal December (2014) bottling. She believes that the wines have less tannins and less material in general than the 2014s and will probably be best suite for earlier drinking. Gros did not make a Chambolle villages due to losses to wild boars and rot. According to her daughter Julie, "we threw out half of the fruit and the rest was not at village quality, so we declassified it into our Bourgogne."

Anne Gros waited until October 7 to start harvesting because she felt that the grapes had too much acidity and wanted to get riper tannins. Eventually she brought in her grand crus with potential alcohol in the healthy 12% to 12.5% range (following the elimination of the pink grapes) and chaptalized "a bit more than one degree." She used slightly less new oak than usual in 2013 and although she routinely destems all of her fruit she vinified with about 60% uncrushed berries in '13. "The 2013s do not have the structure for long aging but they will be very agreeable to drink in the medium term," she concluded. Gros sold off her Chambolle-Musigny due to losses from botrytis and wild boars, and I did not have a chance to taste her normally superb Vosne-Romanée Les Barreaux as it was in a tank without a faucet.