2016 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Chaumes
The Chaumes features red fruits with good penetration and it is light, pure, and fresh with good energy. This is a good representative of the “new style” Chaumes that many of the producers have learned to make, as opposed to the rustic, heavy wines of the past that often did not seem worthy of premier cru status. (90-94)
2016 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Rouges
Les Rouges is high up, above the Échézeaux “Rouges du Bas” lieu-dit. The general reputation is that it is marginal premier cru, but I’ve always appreciated it for its finesse. The wine is pure, fine, and precise with red cherry and other red fruits. The body is medium-light in weight and displays good energy and length. (91-94)
2016 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Brulées
The wine here is dense and powerful with some minerality to its dark fruits. There are also some red fruits showing through. Excellent concentration in this wine. (91-94)
2016 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts
The Beaux Monts is dense and pure with dark fruit, lightness on the palate, and it shows very good energy and good length. There are only hints of the Beaux Monts minerality at this point, but I think more will come as the wine continues to develop. (92-95)
2016 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots
Grivot's Suchots is dense, pure, and deep with long dark fruits. Here the minerality is pronounced. Only two barrels of this wine produced in 2016. (93-96)
2016 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Reignots
The Reignots is pure and very intense with depth and length. The vineyard lies above La Romanée, and one sees the continuation in style here. (93-96)
2016 Clos-de-Vougeot
Grivot regularly produces one of the best wines of Clos-de-Vougeot, and 2016 is no exception. The wine is smooth, silky, and pure with characteristic black raspberry fruit, and the texture is firm. This is a glorious wine, one that I’d love to drink already. (94-98)
2016 Échézeaux
The Clos-de-Vougeot, for all its wonder, does not upstage the Échézeaux (nor does the Richebourg below). The wine is fresh, dense, dark, and pure with Échézeaux sensuality and good length. There is very good structure here, too. This is an ideal for the vineyard. (94-98)
2016 Richebourg
Last, the Richebourg is round, pure, expressive, and energetic with dark fruits. It is a classic. The vintage produced 5 barrels of this wine vs. 5-1/2 when when everything goes to perfection, so all worked out well here. (94-98)