2018 Vosne-Romanée Village

It took a couple of attempts to reach busy winemaker Thomas Colladot at his winery in Flagey-Echézeaux. Finally we were able to hook up and it was important for me to taste his 2018s as my initial praise for his wines did much to put him and this domaine on the map, following a long period of run-of-the-mill wines that were sold to French supermarkets. What is so pleasing is to find how well their wines have shown in tough peer-group blind tastings, proof that my praise was well directed, proof that the quality that I found in barrel is crucially being translated into bottle. Colladot told me that he started picking on 8 September, a little later than some other producers, though not the latest. All his wines are de-stemmed, though he is beginning to experiment with stem addition, indeed, following the tasting I tasted from a couple of barrels of the same cru, one with and the other without stems, Colladot asking my opinion. (I actually preferred those with stems - l bet you in a couple of years we will see some stem addition, subject to the growing season). In the meantime, these 2018s show great promise. I have a couple of reservations towards the Clos Vougeot whilst the Clos-Saint-Denis is outstanding, perhaps even better than the Grands Echézeaux. I cannot wait to taste these wines from bottle.