Wine tasting — Burgundy Vosne Romanée 2004 —
I wrote an article about my plan for my wine collection. This is the first bottle of a batch I bought in 2006 from small producers in Burgundy, France.
François Confuron-Gindre
Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru “Les Brulees” 2004
I have vivid memories when I bought this wine. It was a hot summer in Burgundy, my girlfriend (current wife) and I took our mother in law car to go to the Formula 1 race in Magny-Cours and then visit Burgundy for a week. As usual, I did tons of research and picked up three small producers that were highly rated that year.
It was around noon when we arrived to the address, for our surprise the winery is also the home of the winemaker, we knock on the door and politely were told that the family were having lunch and if we wanted to come back later, so we did.
We drove around, stopped by a nice cafe and walked around the city center as tourist do.
We came back to the domain and where invited to the cave. It was a very intimate space. We felt more inside someone home than a commercial winery. We tasted 6–7 different wines and end up buying 3 bottles of the ones we liked, this one and a Gran Echezeaux from the same year which we will open soon.
This visit was one of the first time that remind me the striking difference in wine tasting in Europe vs US. Most wineries in Europe allow you to taste their wines in a relative low-stress environment, there is no tasting fee, but as a courtesy the expectation is that at least the client should buy one bottle. Which I personally think is reasonable, even the wineries I’m least likely to buy their wine, there is at least one that I like over the others.
The evenings we tried this wine, we decided to pair it with two tomahawk steaks, reverse seared on charcoal and roasted vegetables. We were with the company of two of our best friends and theirs kids. It was a great evening and a great choice of food, wine and company.
Tasting Notes
Alright about the wine. I was very worry of the state of this wine, and I make sure to take good care all these years, but there was always that risks that it went bad.
Aroma. Right after open I could sense hints of hay and animal. But after decanting for aprox half and hour, started evolving into more red fruits, oak and vanilla.
Color. Clear purple with strong maroon borders. Expected for a wine this old.
Taste. Strong tannin which ultimately end up calming down after an hour or so with a mid-high acidity level.
Overall, I think this wine is ready to drink right now and maybe it wait 2–3 more years but unlikely to improve.
If I have to give this wine a points based on a scale it will probably be a solid 8.
I’m glad that I made the decision to open this one as it turn out to be an excellent choice, I just hope that the rest of the wines are in the same conditions. 😜
