2010 - Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts, Domaine de Montille

(100% vendange entier): Palish red. Knockout nose melds redcurrant, cherry, blood orange, minerals, flowers and exotic spices. Juicy, suave and energetic, offering great finesse and inner-mouth perfume to the fine-grained red fruit, spice and mineral flavors. Manages to be both plump and weightless in the manner of the finest red Burgundies. Wonderfully fruity, round wine with a very long, subtly spicy finish that saturates the mouth. Today, the wine's firm structure and suave tannins are in the deep background. These 2010s are wonderfully perfumed yet understated wines.

The 2010 Vosne-Romanee Les Malconsorts is a thrilling wine. Dark cherries, spices, graphite and mint are just some of the many nuances that burst from the glass in this superb, pedigreed Burgundy. The 2010 boasts incredible richness, depth and sheer power, all while capturing the ineffable sexiness of Vosne. Layers of fruit build towards a crescendo of incomparable elegance and class. The Malconsorts is slightly more floral and feminine, and shows a bit more red fruit than the Malconsorts Christiane. The 2010 is flat-out dazzling. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2040. Etienne de Montille describes 2010 as similar to 2002, but with less acidity. He adds that 2010 is a vintage where the end result was less apparent early on than years like 2006 and 2007, where the wines turned out pretty much as originally expected. According to de Montille, there isn’t a huge difference between the Cote de Beaune and Cote de Nuits. That may be true here, but in my view it is not the case in a broader context. De Montille tends to pick early, and his wines in the cellar also finish their malos fairly quickly, which is how things played out in 2010 as well. Most of the 2010s had been racked into steel at the time of my visit, except for the Corton Clos du Roi, Clos Vougeot, Vosne-Romanee Malconsorts, Vosne-Romanee Malconsorts Christiane, which I tasted from barrel. The harvest started on September 20 and ran through the 28th. Some wines were lightly chaptalized. De Montille planned to start bottling in January 2012 with a handful of the entry-level bottlings. I also tasted the 2009s. I will have more to say in our April issue, but for now I can share that the wines have developed beautifully. De Montille’s decision to pick early certainly seems to have paid off. Importer: Martin Scott Wines, Little Neck, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808