Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Clos des Réas All the potential in Burgundy to create both confusion and change is encapsulated in the ownership of this one vineyard. It's therefore a testament to the owners that the vineyard remains both a monopole and also one of Burgundy's most consistent 1er Crus. Gros is the family in question, and their association with the Clos des Réas started with the purchase of the vineyard by Alphonse Gros in 1860; most unusually for the period Alphonse Gros decided to bottle the wine himself: the family still have pricelists from 1868 with vintages of Clos des Réas listed as far back as 1858 - for 5 French francs per bottle if you please. Domaine bottling was continued by all subsequent Gros generations. Prior to 'the Revolution' the vineyard had been the property of the Abbey of Citeaux. Alphonse (born 1804) was succeeded by Jules Gros who was in turn succeeded by Louis Gros. Louis brought 4 children into the world; Colette, Francois, Gustave and Jean, and from these four children three domaines saw life. The Clos des Réas went to the domaine of the eldest son, Jean Gros. This domaine was later to become Jean et Michel Gros (Michel being Jean's son) until today we have Domaine Michel Gros as the single owner of the Clos. The wine has been released under the following labels: Gros-Guenaud, Gros-Renaudot, Louis Gros, Jean Gros and from the 1996 vintage Michel Gros. Louis Gros also owned two hectares of Richebourg which is now split into 3 parcels of two-thirds of an hectare. It is worth noting that family members have at times 'given-up' on their Richebourg to keep the Clos as a single entity. The current custodian of the Clos des Réas, Domaine Michel Gros has no Richebourg. Not merely Clos by name; the triangular Clos des Réas is surrounded by stout walls on all three sides - most likely built by the monks of Citeaux. At the northern corner pointing into the village square of Vosne-Romanée is a small house (pictured above) bearing the number eight. The opposite end of the vineyard expands to become the Villages AOC, Vosne-Romanée Aux Réas where the various Gros Domaines also have holdings. The village of Vosne-Romanée is home to a number of monopolies, but the Clos des Réas is the only 1er Cru monopole. At the same elevation as most of the villages rated vineyards the Clos is further down slope than the other Vosne-Romanée 1ers. In this case the usual etymological references for vineyard names have failed us, so we don't know the derivation for the name Clos des Réas. The 2.12 hectare vineyard has a soil made up from a Bajocian (Jurassic) marl, predominantly of fossilised shellfish (ostrea acuminata). There is a very gentle slope towards the southeast, and the vines planted with a north-south orientation. So what of the wine? Today it is produced with average yields of below 40hl/hectare which in practice means a production of 28-30 barrels. The grapes are completely destemmed with a 3/4 day cold soak before fermentation up to 32°C. As much as 70% new oak barrels are used in the elevage. In one sitting I tasted the vintages 2000-1988 with 1985 added for good measure. Maybe it's the soil or maybe it's the (lower) elevation, but despite showing concentration and elegance I certainly don't find the same depth or dimension as in (respectively) the best Suchots or Malconsorts. The wine does, however, bear more than a passing resemblance to it's neighbour, Les Chaumes. Despite the relatively high amount of new oak, it's never really obvious on the palate, whereas on the nose the oak seems to take around 5 years to be subsumed into the mix. The result is a consistently smooth, medium fat wine of complexity. A wine that tends to display more of the red fruit spectrum than the black, though unlike many from Vosne there is only a very subtle spicy element. The Clos shows admirable consistency across the vintages; weak years tend to be (still) very good wines, though the lauded vintages often don't scale the peaks - that said, the 1993 is superb. Moving onto the winemaker, Michel Gros is a tall man with a moustache - he's also a man with a display cabinet groaning under the weight of trophies: Wine Magazine's Red Wine Producer of the Year 2002, 2003 Revue des Vin France winemaker of the year. Michel was the first in Burgundy to try the must concentrating equipment - machinery more commonly used in Bordeaux - though it seems that the BIVB could 'outlaw' use of this equipment in the future. More to add about Michel and the family Gros . . . .