2012 Vosne Romanee Clos Fontaine

The 2012 Vosne-Romanee Clos de la Fontaine comes from the family’s monopole just below Clos des Reas. It was sold under the Michel Gros contract for 1996 and the parcel will ultimately be returned to Bernard Gros. It has a beguiling, mineral-rich bouquet with scents of strawberry short cake, citrus lemon and blood orange that is vibrant and well-defined. The palate is well-balanced with supple tannins. This is very elegant and very feminine, almost to the point where you wish for more matiere on the finish. However, that might have detracted from the harmony and silky smooth texture. This should provide fine early drinking pleasure at a high quality. Anne-Francoise Gros’ winery is located in Beaune, just off of the ringroad. It was originally acquired from the Quancard negociants. Anne-Francoise is sister to Michel and Bernard Gros, the latter making wines under the Gros Frere & Soeur banner. Anne Gros is her cousin. Anne-Francoise is married to Francois Parent (stay with me). Francois Parent has been the winemaker here, although nowadays the name on the label signifies the negociant side of the business; “Domaine A.F. Gros” is the domaine side. Anne-Francoise has three children, the eldest Caroline Parent who has her own small negociant business from familial vines, Rosalie who is not involved in wine, and 23-year-old Mathias, who since 2010 has taken some of the winemaking duties from his father. I asked Caroline Parent for a summation of the growing season. “The spring was classic in March and April, with a regular start of the growing season and a good amount of future grapes. In May and June we had continual rain and as a result, a late flowering. The hail in Cote de Beaune on the July 23 impacted our vineyards in Savigny-les-Beaune, Beaune, Pommard and our parcels of Bourgogne located under Pommard. The average loss is about 80%. For Cote de Nuits we had some millerandage. Malic acidity was quite high. The grapes of Cote de Beaune and Cote de Nuits were all in a very good sanitary state at the time we harvested: Cool temperatures have prevented botrytis (we had only very few). Polyphenols have been extracted easily with a good color extraction as well, but the degrees were low.” If his 2012s are anything to go by then there is a very bright future for this domaine, for they were lessons in finesse and nervosite rather than intrinsic power. Their 0.60-hectare parcel of Richebourg planted in 1945, vinified by Michel Gros up until 1996, is certainly shoulder to shoulder with others that are much more expensive. The domaine started the picking around September 20, having lost approximately 20-25% of the crop from the two hailstorms, Pommard the hardest hit. Having not tasted A.F. Gros’ wines for a couple of years, I must confess that I had forgotten just how good these wines can be. Importer: Rochemere (NY), Horizon Beverage (MA), Peter Mesrobian – Chelsea Ventures (IL), Scott Paul Wines (OR), Veritas Imports (CA, CO, AR and Nevada) and Robert Panzer (DE)