2012 Vosne-Romanée Les Chaumes 1er Cru

"Two thousand twelve was a completely crazy year," said Etienne Grivot."And very different.The weather finally started to get better in mid-July, and then the north wind after mid-August allowed the grapes to reach perfect maturity.We started harvesting on September 20, and it was one of the most beautiful years I have ever vinified.The wines are splendidly pure, and the dense fruit character is carried by phenomenal precision and energy.As in 2010, 2011 and 2013, it was impossible to make great wines from yields over 30 hectoliters per hectare."(Grivot's yields in 2012 were in the 18 to 25 range.)As Grivot's cellars warmed up slowly in spring, the malos were very long and the wines were sulfited for the first time since the vinification about ten days before my visit; he planned to rack them in December."Today we see the iodine, the graphite, the saline character, the thrust," he noted."One can only imagine the fruit yet to come."The wines will be bottled with alcohol between 12.5% and 13.2%, following about one degree of chaptalization.As high as my scores were for the 2012s, I couldn't help feeling that most of the wines were still slightly affected by the recent sulfuring.