Gros Hautes-Côtes “Fontaine-St-Martin” rouge 2019

The 2019 vintage at Michel Gros is dazzling and delicious. Like much else in 2019, the reds show exceptional concentration. A cool spring delayed flowering to mid-June (once considered normal) and after a warm, dry summer, the domaine harvested perfectly clean fruit under sunny mid-September conditions.

The nose shows perfume, toast, red berries, and minerals, with a precision and tension that reminded us of a village Morey-St-Denis. Burghound found “excellent volume,” and called it “big and rather serious wine.” We agree, and think this overperforms its appellation by a mile.