Clos de la Roche 2013 75cl

The 2013 Clos de la Roche has an airy and transparent nose that prioritizes the mineral-nature of the vineyard over the fruit at the moment. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, lithe in the mouth rather than fleshy, with very good weight, linear, but very harmonious and tender. This is a more understated Clos de la Roche in 2013, nevertheless a beautiful wine that I suspect might drink earlier than the other Grand Crus and yet will last just as long.  Lalou was looking positively “chipper” when I visited her cellars on a Friday morning. Last time she has been suffering after a cold but today she was “en forme," chatty and energetic as ever. I have a theory that she is the “Benjamin Button” of Vosne: more and more youthful as she gets older…or is that younger? As usual, I spent a few moments gazing at the plethora of photographs adorning the walls of various luminaries with Lalou before descending in the elevator with her two dogs, one of whom was almost covered in Musigny 2013 when it leaped in front of the spit bucket. “The 2013 was a difficult season,” she told me, “but autumn saved the vintage. I like the 2013, because each terroir is very expressive. It’s another thing compared to 2012…just different. We started the picking on 25 September in Nuits Saint Georges and finished on 3 October. The yields were 16-hl/ha on average in 2013, which is more than 9 hectoliter per hectare in 2012 and 14 hectoliter per hectare in 2014.” I tasted through the entire range of reds from Leroy save for the Corton-Charlemagne having been bottled three weeks prior to my visit. Indeed, I got the impression that Lalou was pleased with how the wines were in barrel and heeding her policy of bottling relatively earlier than her peers, entertained the possibility of bottling the reds in December. As you would expect, such low yields and meticulous attention to the vineyard has created some exceptionally fine 2013s. The notes hopefully speak for themselves, but would point attention towards a really quite riveting Latricières-Chambertin 2013, which in the past I have felt was not one of Lalou’s strongest wines. However on this occasion…wow…it has the audacity to shade the Chambertin. Also, I enjoyed the brightness and transparency exuded by the Savigny-lès-Beaune les Nanbartons and the undeniable complexity of her Musigny, alas just two barrels like last year, although if rarity turns you on, try and find her hail-affected Volnay Santenots that was reduced to a single barrel.