Yesterday morning we tasted through Michel Gros’s 2020 vintage from barrel. It’s a terrific year, with both tremendous density and great energy. Hot, dry growing seasons have become the norm in Burgundy, and while they still make life difficult for the growers, the vignerons here begun to adapt their practices in the vines and the cellar. The resulting wines are as good as they’ve ever been.
Gros’s 2020s will be in the October Futures offering this fall, but in the meantime the 2019s continue to drink beautifully. Gros’s 2019s were universally successful. While most of their village, premier cru and grand cru wines sold out through Futures last year, his regional level wines offer a chance to experience this superb vintage with more modest investment.
Today we’re suggesting the 2019 Hautes-Côtes de Nuits “Au Vallon,” one of Gros’s regional level cuvées, and one that performed particularly well in 2019. The bottle we opened last night was terrific – pure and precise with an expressive nose of red fruits and violets. The mouth is delicious, with excellent concentration and lots of depth.
Vinous’s Neal Martin found “fine grained tannins” and called it “commendably energetic,” concluding “this is worth seeking out.” Burghound awarded it both his Outstanding and Top Value labels, finding it “sleek and fine with a beguiling intensity” and concluding “this is very good and worthy of your interest.”
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Michel Gros Hautes-Côtes de Nuits “Au Vallon” 2019
bottle price: $36