Our shared love for Legou evidenced simply: we've spilled more ink over this domaine that any in the whole of Burgundy. Vincent's reds are fierce originals, whole-cluster beauties of sophistication and genuine complexity. Superb values, too.
Vincent’s years at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti impress strongly, late harvesting and whole-cluster vinification in particular. But the wines reach beyond imitation. There is a sincerity to them, a frankness of expression that is the closest you’ll come to locating a house style, clusters excepted. Terroir expresses clearly too, and not only at the top of the range. You’ll notice the proximity of place as forcibly in the Hautes Côtes as the Vosne-Romanée.
This list includes the freshly arrived ‘20s, terrific successes if you’re open to the large-scaled pleasures of the vintage. Legou's are lighter in color and more aromatically hi-toned than just about anything else you’ll find this year, though. Red fruit and florals, features hardly routine in ’20, somehow find the full range.
A last word about aging these. Time really helps the whole-cluster nuances to integrate more deeply into the wines, moving from their ‘tops’ to somewhere more in their centers. It's like the difference between seasoning food deeply before cooking versus, say, merely adding a dusting of salt afterward. As seductive as the wines can be young, a half decade or more of age returns a deeper, maturer pleasure.
Brief details on fruit sources below:
Hautes Côtes de Nuits ‘Le Corton’ - From the domaine’s oldest Hautes Côtes vines, now about 40 years old.
Ladoix - From 2 small parcels high on the hill totaling 1/2 hectare.
Beaune - From the villages portion of 'Blanche Fleur,' less than 1/2 hectare.
Nuits-St.-Georges - From a tiny parcel in ‘Petite Charmotte’ typically yielding a single barrel.
Gevrey-Chambertin - From 2 parcels near Brochon totaling just under 1/2 hectare.
Vosne-Romanée -From 3 tiny plots, 2 by ‘Suchots’ near the cemetery and the other south of the village.
Cheers,
Jason
