The 2015 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Petits Monts offers fragrant blackberry, cranberry and cold slate aromas, tight at first but opening with aeration and gaining impressive intensity with time. The palate is medium-bodied with elegant ripe tannin, very well-judged acidity, harmonious from start to end with hints of blood orange and white pepper, leading to a brisk, correct and linear finish.
“The 2015 vintage is the best vintage I have ever made,” remarks Louis-Michel with a wry smile. That’s the thing. You never quite know whether he is joking, although deep down, he knows that it might well be true. "The growing season was great because it was pretty dry. There was some oïdium effect on the vineyard especially on the mid-slope where we had hail in 2014. We don't know why. It might because some vineyards we don't spray. We sprayed a lot of salt in the vineyard. June was otherwise a great month but we had a bit of sunburn. We lost 25% due to bad flowering, oïdium and sunburn. We had a pretty warm climate from late June, therefore we didn't use any silica 501 preparation this year [it is supposed to act like a magnifying glass and is used for less in ripe vintages]. We begun picking on 5 September and finished on 10 September, before the rain. The rain was not critical for the quality of the fruit, but it was critical for the harvest as the team does not work so well. We were lucky to pick on "dry feet." The rain cooled the winery and that allowed us to have a slightly longer cuvaison, and some wines spent 25 days in vat when usually it is 20 days. The 2015 vintage is the first year since 2003 that we have not chaptalized as everything was in perfect balance, whereas usually we add 0.3° to 0.5° alcohol. There was low malic acid but even so, we had a late malolactic fermentation. I've never really seen such a vintage so it is difficult to compare."
I have been tasting and writing about this domaine right from the early days when the then young Louis-Michel took over the running of the historic domaine located in the heart of Vosne-Romanée. The wines have been fine-tuned in recent years, both out in the vines where everything has been converted to biodynamic viticulture and perhaps just as importantly, in the winery, in particular with respect to more assiduous use of oak. As one expects, the 2015s are absolutely gorgeous wines, so much so that in some cases it was tempting to elope with the sample bottle, never to be seen again. There is beguiling purity of fruit, satin-like textures, and impressive depth of aromas and flavors. I found it difficult to pick out the stars here as there is consistency across the range. Naturally the monopole of La Romanée is the jewel in the crown and these days, just as expensive. However, it is undeniably absolutely gorgeous. Actually, I might pick out the Clos de Vougeot as one that caught my attention since it is the one label that is not owned by the domaine. I heard whispers that it is sourced from a choice parcel within the medieval walls and that was clearly evident in the resulting wine - an absolute gem. As I have mentioned, prices have become expensive in recent years even relative to inflation-prone Vosne-Romanée, however, it does not appear to have dampened demand.