The 2012 Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Les Chaumes offers fleshy and slightly degraded red berry fruit on the nose, with touches of forest floor and dried flowers. It takes time just to open up in the glass and it remains a little coy despite coaxing. The palate is fresh and crisp on the entry with red cherry, strawberry, raspberry and vanilla notes, segueing into a structured finish dominated by the oak at the moment, leaving a toasty residue on the coffee-tinged aftertaste. Bernard gave me a superb boogie-woogie rendition of “Amazing Grace” on his Steinway, one that Jools Holland would be proud of, following my tasting of 2012s His grand piano, parked in a cavernous annex of his renovated cellar, is truly something to behold. There it stands against the craggy, fissured limestone walls that form a jaw-dropping juxtaposition against what appears to be the dance-floor at Studio 54. I’ve been visiting this address ever since I started in the wine trade and Bernard Gros’s style has remained unchanged during that period. These are big wines lavished in new oak – always have been and maybe always will be. I cannot help feeling that the range would be improved without resorting 100% new oak on every single cuvee from the village Vosne-Romanee upwards and I sometimes question the practice of heating the wines to 40 degrees for 24 hours to give rounder tannins. Is that over-egging an already very tasty cake? The wines are occasionally subjugated by the new wood and my experience of mature bottles suggests that they never quite shake it off, although there are Burgundy lovers who appreciate that style, perhaps in Japan where Bernard enjoys a strong following. When you start reaching the grand crus, in particular the Richebourg, only then you can see that the intense fruit is able to carry the wood and fully absorb it, allowing the terroir to show through. Bernard Gros is one of Vosne-Romanee’s most entertaining winemakers. I just hope that in future vintages he’ll just retreat a little from the cooperage so that we can see his propitious vineyards. Importer: Atherton Imports, Menlo Park, CA; tel. (650) 328-6639