Vosne Romanée Les Gaudichots, Nicolas Potel 2007

This is class in a glass with its spicy and superbly elegant nose that features a striking mix of kaleidoscopically broad fruit, spice, mineral and underbrush aromas that is the most complete of any wine to this point and complement dense, serious and stylish medium-bodied flavors that are built on a base of fine grained minerality on the balanced, linear and dense but fine tannins as well as an acid core that throws the finish into pure relief. This impressed me quite a bit for its harmony and sheer persistence if not raw depth.

I won't to enter into the mysteries surrounding the origins of Maison Potel's 2007 Vosne-Romanee Les Gaudichots (and its predecessors) and whether or not this vintage would have been the last such wine even had Nicolas Potel remained with the company that bears his name. I will tell you that this rendition offers the usual metaphorical darkness, formidable structure and grand cru length one associates with its tiny premier cru (consisting of three disparate remnants of what otherwise long ago became a part of La Tache). Peat, morello cherry, and piquantly cyanic crushed fruit pits make for a penetrating nose. Strong but fine-grained tannins undergird ripe cherry and black raspberry while pungent citrus oil and peat-like smokiness penetrate to every recess in the mouth in a vibratory and assertive finish. This ought to have at least 12-15 years of fascination in it. Just to preserve some perspective, Potel rendered no fewer than five different Vosne premier crus from 2007 (just as he had in 2006) of which I tasted only this one.