Vosne Romanée Les Brûlées, Domaine Jean Grivot 2006

Incense, vanilla, star anise and lightly-cooked cherry and cassis scent Grivot's 2006 Vosne Romanee Les Brulees. Sleek and polished on the palate, it combines sweet fruit with a nut brittle-like suggestion of caramelized richness appropriate to the name of the cru in question, if unusual for the vintage. Forest floor and animal elements supply a dark undercurrent to the palate-saturating flavors on display here, backed by considerable though fine-grained tannins, which Grivot believes were accentuated by sulfur from bottling when I tasted. This should be given 2-3 years in bottle, I suspect, to show its true meddle, and ought to be worth following for at least half a dozen years thereafter. I did not, incidentally, have an opportunity to taste the tiny volume of 2006 Grivot Vosne Romanee Aux Reignots.