2022 Bourgogne Côte d’Or

Last year, I advised readers about a new chapter opening at Domaine Michel Gros. If the page was turning 12 months ago, now we’ve started reading the chapter. The headline is that they have added two significant Grand Crus to their portfolio, Echézeaux Les Loächausses (they will specify the lieu-dit on the label like all branches of the Gros family tend to do) and Richebourg. Not every day that the latter lands in your lap. These holdings come from Colette Gros. After her brother Gustave died, her inherited parcels were leased to Bernard and Anne Gros under his Gros Frères & Soeur label since she had no children. This contract has simply come to an end, so it was always anticipated. Incidentally, I am pleased to say that Colette Gros is still with us, and I remember her answering the door on a couple of occasions. Bernard and his cousin Anne Gros still have those cuvées from existing parcels, so it is not a case of depriving them of their cuvée, but their production is obviously smaller.

I was pleased to bump into Michel walking down the street in Vosne, but he has now retired, so his son, Pierre, is fully in charge.

“This vintage was dry with a lot of summer, significantly warmer than recent vintages, but in June, we had much more rain than usual,” he tells me. “In the storm, we had 70mm of rain, but it was showery throughout the month, so there was around 150mm. We didn’t have the same issues with drought as in 2020. There is no rot or mildew; therefore, we didn’t have to do as much spraying or sorting at harvest. The ripeness is similar to 2018 and 2019, and we didn’t have to extract too much during the vinification [twice a day without any cold soak at the beginning]. All the fruit is de-stemmed. The profile of the 2022 is closer to 2019 than 2018, though there is less alcohol, between 12.5% and 13.5%. We started the picking on September 3, and we picked over 15 days – harvests are taking shorter times. The reds will be racked at the beginning of April, and they will be left in tank for five months before bottling.”

Have there been any changes since Pierre took the reins?

“When I came back in 2019, I started plowing the vineyards and moved closer to organic. There were just two sprays at the beginning of the season that were not organic. In the Hautes-Côtes, we are switching from Cordon to Guyot pruning. We are between the two at the moment, keeping one arm of the vine, though we’ll start converting the other arm to Guyot soon. In 2022, we didn’t use the must concentrator.”

With the new cuvées, this is now a portfolio to be reckoned with, and under Pierre Gros, I think we will see new impetus. I detect a change in tack rather than charting a totally different course, though. I gently asked if they could throw away the must concentrator…never a good optic for any self-respecting Domaine, even if it is rarely used.