Domaine Nicole Lamarche La Grand Rue Grand Cru 2018

"This is clearly a wine of distinction - Vosne-Romanée royalty if you prefer - and there is no royalty higher in the Côte de Nuits. It is elegant, endlessly complex, and I could spend the whole night sniffing the glass." Bill Nanson, The Finest Wines of Burgundy

"La Grande Rue is a multifaceted wine, combining finesse, elegance, refinement, good if not huge power, a highly scented spice-infected nose and beautiful harmony of expression, all wrapped up in a wonderfully seductive and satiny finish. In particular, it can deliver succulent richness, even opulence and mature into pure velvet and silk." Allen Meadows, The Pearl of the Côte - The Great Wines of Vosne-Romanée

The 1.65-hectare La Grande Rue vineyard dates back to the 15th century and takes its name from the small road bordering the vineyard as it climbs above the town. After La Romanée, La Grande Rue is the smallest of the Vosne Grands Crus. It is enviably situated, directly bordering La Tâche to the south (it is the continuation of this vineyard) and La Romanée-Conti, La Romanée and Romanée-Saint-Vivant to the north (across a small road). The site first came into Lamarche hands in 1933 and it has been a monopole for the family ever since.

This can be thought of as a prettier, more delicate version of La Tâche*** but I think it actually comes closer to its northern neighbours in style, as Clive Coates suggests: "La Grande Rue, in my view, is a more feminine wine than La Tâche. It is closer to Romanée-Saint-Vivant." Allen Meadows also writes (in The Pearl of the Côte) that the wine's aging potential most closely mirrors that of Romanée-Saint-Vivant. As always though, comparisons are problematic - La Grande Rue clearly has its own personality. It is also clearly a site of great class: when you taste this wine next to the same producer's Echézeaux, Grands Echézeaux and Clos de Vougeot (which are themselves superb examples of their respective Grand Cru vineyards), the sheer class and depth of La Grande Rue is self-evident.

"Interestingly, this is actually quite similar to the nose of the Grands Ech but it's arguably even spicier and quite cool in the context of the 2018 vintage along with a top note of menthol. The pliant medium-bodied flavors possess a decidedly sleek mouthfeel though the tension really builds from the mid-palate to the firm, dusty and very serious finish that offers outstanding length. Patience strongly advised as this is definitely resolutely structured. In a word, excellent." 95 points, Allen Meadows, Burghound

"Mid crimson colour. The nose is more about elegance than weight. A little iron-rich blood orange nose - there is evident iron oxide in the lower part of the vineyard. The glory of La Grande Rue shows in the more sumptuous texture on the palate, and not just the length of the finish, but also the detail. It still does not wish to make a massive statement but it absolutely fulfils what Nicole Lamarche is trying to achieve." 94-98 points, Jasper Morris MW, Inside Burgundy

*** In 1959 the Lamarche family swapped some La Grande Rue vines for La Tâche (a 'remembrement' exchange) with Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. Lamarche relinquished seven parcels in the terroir then known as Les Gaudichots (now La Tâche) and in return received three parcels of La Grande Rue (totalling 0.1013 hectares) and a parcel of Les Gaudichots/La Tâche. From 2014, Nicole Lamarche has bottled a separate cuvée made from the vines that Lamarche obtained in the 1959 exchange. Called Cuvée 1959, there are only two barrels produced each year. The wine is raised in the rare Cavin Aphrodite barrels (made from 300-year-old oak trees sourced in the Fontainebleau forest). As yet, Australia has not receives an allocation of this wine.

Country: France
Region: Burgundy