2005 Domaine Anne Gros Richebourg Grand Cru
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 2005 Richebourg Grand Cru marks the transition to the domaine's contemporary style, wafting from the glass with a rich and fruit-driven bouquet of cassis, plums and black raspberries that's framed by a lavish application of creamy new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, dense and concentrated, with a deep and fleshy profile that's still quite wrapped up in its fine-grained tannic chassis, buttressed by tangy acids. In its impactful, modernist style it's quite a success, though it's still several years away from prime-time drinking.
Critic scores
Allen Meadows, Burghound
David Schildknecht, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Good deep red-ruby. Pungent dark raspberry, violet, bitter chocolate and orange zest on the nose. The palate explodes with urgent crushed berry, floral and mineral flavors, showing great richness but none of the obvious warm side of the vintage. The palate-staining, mounting finish, still a bit brooding, features noble tannins and lingering notes of dark fruits, flowers and licorice. These wines have all turned out at the high end of my projected ratings a year ago and should be cellar treasures.
Here the aromatic profile is completely different because while this too is on the generously oaked side, the spicy red, blue, black and violet aromas are reserved to the point of being reluctant and the big, focused, powerful and extremely rich flavors are also decidedly tight and not particularly forthcoming yet the underlying material is strikingly good, all wrapped in a youthfully austere but incredibly long finish. This is extremely promising and while it's less massive than the Clos de Vougeot, it's both finer and very sophisticated. If you can find it, buy it.
The 2005 Richebourg leads with intense blackberry, raspberry, cedar and smoked meat aromas, then coats all reaches of the palate with faintly oily, rich fruit. This has power and grip, yet a refined, creamy texture, subtle, mouth-watering acidity, and terrific precision in its smoke- and mineral-tinged black fruit and marrow finish.
About the producer
Domaine Anne Gros is a popular estate situated in the village of Vosne-Romanée whose top bottlings include three Grands Crus – Clos Vougeot, Echézeaux and Richebourg.