Jean-Marc Millot Vosne-Romanee 2019
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Jasper
Morris
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Jasper Morris
From the well-placed Hautes Maizières and Violettes vineyards on the north side of the village. The 2019 Vosne-Romanée offers dense rich fruit, lots of dark raspberry energy, a certain sucrosity, a wine that needs further elevage (which it will get) to open out.
Barrel Sample: 90-92
Other Vintages
2018-
Jasper
Morris
Quiet, unassuming, shy, yet quick to smile and jest, Jean-Marc Millot has the appearance of a young vigneron from earlier years. His hands are stained and gnarled by working with the vines, his cheeks bright rosy and complexion clear from many days in the wintry and spring-chill air. He began estate-bottling at the family domaine in 1990, working the six hectares of vines originally purchased by his grandparents after World War II. He added another 1.4 hectares when his wife inherited her share of her family's estate, and today he will tell you he has enough property: "more than eight hectares is too much for one man to work alone."
To call Jean-Marc a traditionalist would be to understate his commitment to working the land and making his wines by hand. Artisinale is perhaps the best description, but neo-Luddite would not be inappropriate. Work in the vineyards is done by hand, no tractors to help him till the soil, no pneumatic secateurs to help with pruning or harvest. The vines are tended organically without pesticides or fertilizers, and the chais shows no signs of pumps, gadgets, or fancy presses. The grape bunches are destemmed by a mechanical, not electric, device which is still turned by hand. Following the alcoholic fermentation, which includes the ancient pigeage method of Jean-Marc lowering himself into the vat to break up the cap, the wines are drained off by gravity to oak barrels for their malolactic and aging. They are tasted regularly but racked only once; just prior to being bottled and corked by hand, cask by individual cask. With yields ranging on average from 25 to 32 hectoliters per hectare, the wines are rarely anything but profound.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
This is the village for the most die-hard Burgundy fanatics. Vosne-Romanée has for many hundreds of years been the source of the most sought-after Pinot Noir in Burgundy. The village claims six Grands Crus—and some of the most famous at that—but in other villages where owners manage tiny parcels or a few rows of any one vineyard, monopolies dominate the Grands Crus of Vosne-Romanee.
Of these monopolies, Domaine Romanee-Conti (DRC) reigns supreme, claiming not only more total vineyard area than any other producer, but outright owning the entirety of two of the Grands Crus and a majority of two others. In its full possession are naturally Romanée-Conti, as well as La Tâche. DRC also owns most of Richebourg and Romanée-St-Vivant. The final two, La Grande Rue and La Romanée are completely owned by other other produers: François Lamarche and Comte Liger Belair, respectively.
While one could spend a lifetime on the puzzles of land ownership in Burgundy, the point is that Vosne-Romanee contains the most valuable pieces of vineyard real estate in the world. Pinot Noir from any of its vineyards—especially from within its 27ha of Grand Cru or 58 ha of Premier Cru land—is going to rank among the best.
The most outstanding wines from this village have everything: finesse and elegance coupled with the body and sturdiness for incredibly long aging ability. They are intensely floral and exotically spiced. Beautifully ripe, complex and ephemeral throughout, they are robust, yet fine-grained in texture. These wines will stay gorgeous for the long haul.