Vosne Romanée Malconsorts, Domaine Hudelot-Noellat 2012

The 2012 Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Les Malconsorts comes from a small 0.14-hectare of vines planted in 1950. This year it was reduced from three to two and a half barrels. It has a broody, intense but entrancing bouquet with dark plum, raspberry and mineral scents that are beautifully placed. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins. There is plenty of intense red and black fruit dialed into this nascent Malconsorts that is almost regimented in style, but with a wonderful linear finish that is compelling. Superb.

**Note: from a .5 ha parcel; note that in 2012 this was bottled exclusively in magnum where 300 were produced - my predicted range is necessarily based on this format**
Like the Charmes this is wonderfully exuberant with an overtly spicy nose of both red and blue pinot fruit, floral elements and a hint of oak. There is good volume and excellent minerality to the well-delineated, powerful and deep medium-bodied flavors that deliver first-rate persistence. Note that the supporting tannins are dense but fine and this will require many years of bottle age to resolve the tannins. As excellent as the description makes this wine sound I had the same niggling concern here that I did with the Suchots, which is to say that the nose may go secondary relatively early and thus predicting when might be the optimal time to open one of these magnums is not easy to predict. My score offers the benefit of the doubt though here too I include a cautionary question mark.