Alain Hudelot-Noellat Vosne Romanee 1er Cru Les Suchots

2015

Burghound 91-94♥: Discreet but not invisible wood serves as a relatively neutral backdrop for the exuberantly spicy aromas soy, hoisin, black raspberry, plum and floral scents. The generously proportioned and amply rich medium-bodied flavors brim with dry extract that imparts a sappy mouth feel to the velvety but firm and serious finale that makes clear this is going to require extended cellaring. In sum, this is an excellent Suchots.

Wine Advocate 93: The 2015 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots (which hails from a parcel planted in 1910) is excellent, opening in the glass with a deep bouquet of cassis, cherry, smoked duck and burnt orange, elegantly framed by a discrete application of new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, silky and ample, with serious depth and dimension, juicy acids and ripe, fine-grained tannins. While its serious structural chassis is nicely cloaked in concentrated fruit, this Suchots will benefit from a good decade of bottle age.

Vinous 91-94: (this vineyard was planted about a hundred years ago, and features a high percentage of millerandage): Bright, dark red. Very ripe but reticent aromas of black cherry, black raspberry and dark chocolate. Densely packed, very ripe, broad and fine-grained but showing little in the way of easy sweetness in the early going. Like the Chambolle Charmes, this is quite closed today and not yet showing its inherent complexity. But the wine's richness of material is already clear. Finishes with substantial tannic clout. "Always a blacker, denser wine than the Beaumonts," notes van Canneyt.