2011 Clos Vougeot

Bright medium red. Aromas of blackberry, violet and graphite. Sweet, juicy and perfumed but less open-knit than the Echezeaux; still a bit clenched. At its best on the building back end, which displays full, structured tannins and excellent length. Needs four or five years.

The 2011 Clos de Vougeot Le Grand Maupertui has a similar bouquet to the Echezeaux: restrained at first but developing attractive scents of summer berry fruit mingling with wild fennel with time. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins on the entry. The acidity is nicely judged and it has an elegant finish with just a touch of spice. Drink now-2018. I have long admired the wines of Anne Gros where I have been visiting since the late 1990s, before I ever put pen to paper, so to speak. She has always been a typical Burgundian, preferring to stay in and around Vosne with her husband, Jean-Paul Tollot, and their three children. Years ago, she spoke of her dislike of travelling abroad. But Burgundy has changed and become more international. Anne has changed too, since she was in Hong Kong when I came by, so it was her daughter Julie who guided me through the wines-having just started working with her mother in recent months. Some commentators have criticized Anne’s wines for leaning too far toward new oak, though I myself have found them to handle the wood and absorb it well once the wines are allowed to age. But I have to confess, I did find the use of 100% new oak suppressed and occasionally overwhelmed the fruit in these 2011s. The usual exuberance may have been diminished by bottle shock, but I worry that some of these wines did not show the requisite weight of fruit to handle that amount of oak. It is nothing to do with the winemaking, but rather the limitations imposed by the growing season. Importer: Atherton Wine Imports; www.awiwine.com

Good bright red with ruby highlights. Pure, perfumed aromas of blueberry, minerals and flowers. Juicy, tight and savory, with an almost minty quality contributing to the impression of lift. But this firmly tannic and very backward wine is tough to taste today.