2008 Vosne les Brulees
By Domaine Leroy
2008 Vosne les Brulees from Domaine Leroy, Burgundy, France
In the vivid tapestry of Burgundian lore, the 2008 Vosne les Brulees from Domaine Leroy resounds with an enigmatic whisper, promising not just a mere hedonistic sip, but an adventurous exploration through time and terroir. As I delve deeper into this particular vintage, it becomes increasingly clear that 2008 was a challenging year that sculpted a wine of distinctive character, differentiating itself from its siblings with grace and complexity.
The Art of Vintage Variability
The 2008 vintage in Burgundy is often cited as one that demanded the utmost skill from its vintners. A cold spring followed by a humid summer tested the resolve of the vines at Domaine Leroy, where meticulous care and selective picking led to yields of profound quality - albeit limited in quantity. These conditions heightened the grapes’ aromatic intensity, rendering the 2008 vintage a study in finesse and resilience.
A Confluence of Elegance and Power
On the palate, this Vosne les Brulees speaks volumes about its birth year - manifesting a harmonious balance between opulent fruit and vibrant acidity. There's a tension here, an animating force that's driven by the vintage’s cool climatic challenges. The minerality is assertive yet refined, threading through the layers of ripe cherry and subtle hints of exotic spice; each sip is a testament to the expert cultivation and vinification practices that have come to define Domaine Leroy's storied reputation.
The collectability of this offering is further enhanced by its rarity and esteemed provenance. It stands as one among a coterie of wines emblematic of an investor’s prized cellar - where narrative meets tangible value.
To sip the 2008 Vosne les Brulees is to engage in a dialogue with a vintage that surmounted adversity to achieve elegance. In this wine lies not just an opportunity for investment but an invitation to partake in a storied chapter of Burgundian winemaking history. It encapsulates a moment where nature's unpredictable whims were coaxed into submission by human touch, culminating in a wine that proffers depth, dimension, and promise for maturation.
Current market price
£5,650.00
12x75cl
Highest score
95
POP score
376.67
Scores and tasting notes
Hints of game and animal fur as well as musky perfume of peony and narcissus all contribute funk to the aromatic complexity of Bize-Leroy’s 2008 Vosne-Romanee Aux Brulees, whose sweet side is represented by ripe black fruits, garlanded in heliotrope and fading lily. A marine alliance of alkalinity and mouthwateringly salinity joins peat, chalk, black tea, and forest underbrush and detritus on a silken, strikingly buoyant palate that really takes one on a tour of the dark, decadent mansion of Vosne-Romanee. This finishes darkly, deeply, envelopingly – and yet, the vivacious impingement of fresh berries, piquancy of tea and fruit pit, and invigorating pungency of mineral salts offer quickening 2008 typicity as well as a striking sense of counterpoint. This fits the Burgundian saying about Pinot offering a glass of night before you go into your own long night, and I hope to meet this sinisterly profound Vosne once more before The Reaper calls me. This wine harbors 20-25 years of vigor. (About myself, I’m a little less sure.) Lalou Bize-Leroy reports average 2008 Pinot Noir yields of 13 hectoliters per hectare, almost absurdly tiny even by her singular standards. Malos were a bit later than usual but were finished by summer, and the wines bottled – as usual – in December. Yet – also as usual – if their development was thereby in any way stunted, you certainly won’t detect it in the bottle today! The best of these display a sense of transparency; levity; and – even when rich and head-spinningly complex – a sheer sense of refreshment and invigoration that I have seldom encountered in other great wines from these sister estates. (Please note that my account of the complete 2007 red collection at Leroy was published in issue #189.) Importer: Martine’s Wines. Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-040
David Schildknecht - The Wine Advocate, 28 June 2010