1995 Vosne Romanee Les Barreaux

(FORMERLY KNOWN AS DOMAINE ANNE ET FRANCOIS GROS)||Very dark-colored, the Vosne-Romanee Les Barreaux displays penetrating aromas of super-ripe black fruits and berries and a flavor profile packed with chewy, hyper-concentrated, floral blackberries and cassis. Deep and rich, readers should consider drinking this powerful wine between 2000-2007. This note is the result of tastings I did in Burgundy between January 7 and January 29. The wine was tasted from cask, not bottle. Pinot Noir, a fragile varietal, reacts poorly to fining, filtration, and careless bottling techniques, I recommend caution when considering buying a red burgundy based on cask samples. I called it as I tasted it, and hope the bottled wine reflects the quality of the samples I was provided.||Anne Gros has bought out her father Francois' interest in this estate and is making super-extracted, black, deeply layered, intense wines. Lightly filtered but not fined, she uses between 80-90% new oak on her two grand crus. I consider it impossible to produce an inkier wine from Pinot Noir than she did in 1995. Readers who search out Pinot Noir with refined notes of strawberries, raspberries and tangy cherries should be aware that these wines are the antithesis.||A Peter Vezan Selection (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-42-65-42-93), importers include : North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel (510) 848-8910. Wine Advocate.June, 1997

Ruby-red color. Superripe, expressive aromas of dark berries, flowers, spices and beefsteak tomato: strikingly ripe for a "high-altitude" wine. Flavors of red and black fruits and licorice in the mouth. Quite dense and concentrated, even powerful. Offers a combination of excellent acidity and thorough ripeness rare for a village wine. Very long and impressive.