You would be hard-pressed to find a Pinot Noir connoisseur who wouldn’t place Vosne-Romanée on the mountaintop of Burgundy. Because, while each village has its own stylistic charm—think Chambolle, Gevrey, Morey—the wines of Vosne-Romanee deliver a restrained and elegant power that goes unmatched around the world. That statement isn’t limited to its top Grand Crus of Richebourg, Romanée-Saint-Vivant, and La Romanée-Conti either: wines across the board show powerful levels of finesse, polish, and minerality.
This fact was made abundantly clear to us when we tasted Domaine Fabrice Vigot’s seductive and highly stimulating 2016 Vosne-Romanee. We’ve had our heels dug into the Vigot soapbox for years now, as we believe their village-level and 1er Cru Pinot Noirs to be some of the best-kept secrets in Burgundy. Their 2014s were magical and we bought up as much as we could, but with the 2016s, they’ve achieved another level of precision and opulence. The wine serves as a prototype of the vintage, yes, but also the immortal style of Vosne and the noble Pinot Noir grape itself. As always, we hardly had enough to scrape an offer together.
Domaine Vigot is run by Fabrice and Christine Vigot, who founded the estate in 1990 by combining the landholdings of their respective families. Most notably, Fabrice’s father worked with the famed Dr. Georges Mugneret in the 1960s, looking after some of their most prized vineyards in a sharecropping agreement that lasted through 2016. Meaning, the Vigot family played a significant role in the creation of Burgundy’s most legendary and sought after wines—those of Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg. They were able to take some of the fruit from that agreement and bottle it themselves, in addition to the wines from their own family vineyards (totaling less than seven hectares!).
Today’s village-level Vosne-Romanee is sourced from two of Vigot’s prized lieu-dits: “La Colombière” near the center of the village (planted in 1979) and “La Croix Blanche” located near Nuits-St.-Georges (planted in 1948). They employ organics in the vineyards with a recent focus on biodynamics, and because of this meticulous farm-first approach, they practice a light hand in the cellar to allow the terroir to shine. All the grapes are hand-harvested and partially de-stemmed, leaving around 30% of the clusters intact for a native-yeast fermentation. After a twenty-day maceration in stainless steel tank, the wine spends 18 months in barrel, 20% new. Bottling takes place without fining or filtering.
The 2016 Vigot is a clear-eyed, authentic red Burgundy giving as pure a look at terroir expression as you will hope to find in the region. The color is a deep ruby-red hue with slight hints of garnet at the rim. The nose is an incredible swirl of wild strawberries, blackberry compote, dried orange peel, black tea, and crushed stones. The palate is medium-bodied and plush while containing woodsy, umami depth that taps into something visceral when tasting. I recommend a 30 minute decant before serving in Burgundy stems around 60 degrees. The delicacy, perfume, and structure all set this wine apart and speak to the distinction of the 2016 vintage and Domaine Vigot’s elite quality as a Vosne-Romanée producer. The acidity and tannic structure assure that this wine will improve over the course of the next 5-10 years. However, depriving yourself of a wonderful experience now is not recommended, so I suggest drinking one or two in 2021 and squirreling away the rest in your cellar. For pairing, I recommend a roast chicken or squab with herbs and winter squash. Cheers!
