The 2014 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots has a very pure raspberry and wild strawberry bouquet mixed with sous-bois and even a touch of menthol. One of the most exotic perfumes amongst the plethora of reds. The palate is medium-bodied with quite firm tannin that kind of brings you down to earth: dense in the mouth but for me, just a little austere on the finish in the context of the vineyard. I'll be conservative at the moment with my score and hope that the palate catches up with the nose by the time it is bottled.

The 2013 Vosne Romanee les Suchots 1er Cru has a typical "Suchots" bouquet with vibrant and corpulent red cherries, wild strawberries and cranberry scents. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent ripe tannins, a mixture of red and black fruit with a smooth and harmonious finish that feels very svelte in the mouth. This is a luscious Vosne-Suchots that should give 15-20 years of pleasure.

The 2012 Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Les Suchots has a delicate bouquet for a Suchots, preferable to the 2011 Suchots tasted earlier. The palate is fresh and vibrant with supple red berry fruit, candied orange peel and a long sweet, almost almond tinged finish. This should be a delight. It is always a pleasure to visit the indefatigable Mounir Saouma at his hideaway winery just off the Beaune periphique. He is a winemaker you can jest with, and he is often victim of my sardonic Essex humor (for example, when enthusing about obtaining one of five barrels of a premier cru, I dryly enquired whether the other four were sold off for distillation - I would not say that to Aubert de Villaine.) And I appreciate Mounir's wines. They used to taste a little too fat and almost over-powering in their youth, but I think he is fine-tuning his reductive winemaking style, achieving more freshness and vitality. I tasted his 2012 reds since the whites were still undergoing malolactic. Among the tidal wave of opinions, one that he emphasized was that to capture the quality of the vintage under cork, the wines should be bottled late, and not in spring when Burgundy will resound to the clinking of glass. Mounir also told me that he paid 50% more from wines in 2012 than in 2011, but that he intends to keep prices within 15% increase. Importers: Vintus LLC, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (914) 769-3000, Atherton Imports, Menlo Park, CA; tel. (650) 328-6639

The 2011 Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Les Suchots has a controlled bouquet (in context of this particular vineyard), one that is well-defined, with earthy black fruit and a touch of struck match. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, crisp acidity and a very focused, almost symmetrical finish that is atypically linear. This is holding something back: a sultry Les Suchots that will need cellar time to lose its inhibitions. Drink 2017-2030. Prior to launching into Maison Lucien de Moine’s 2012 reds with irrepressible winemaker Mounir Saouma, we revisited some of his 2011s that are now in bottle. To recap, Mounir is one of the last Burgundy producers to bottle his wines, since he is a great believer in extended elevage. There is a clutch of outstanding wines in this vintage, particularly at the grand cru level, where one must admire the consistency across the board. As always, readers are reminded that Lucien Le Moine’s wines are made in a stringently reductive method, therefore they always need more decanting time than other growers. Importers: Vintus LLC, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (914) 769-3000, Atherton Imports, Menlo Park, CA; tel. (650) 328-6639

The 2010 Vosne-Romanee Les Suchots is one of the highlights in this brilliant group of 2010s from proprietor Mounir Saouma. Dark cherries, deeply pitched spices, licorice and crushed rocks are woven together in a rich, layered fabric of utter distinction and sheer class. The Suchots possesses striking depth and fabulous balance. Exotic spice notes waft across the palate on the finish. This is pure Vosne and pure Suchots. I loved it. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2030. It is always fascinating to settle in for a tasting with proprietor Mounir Saouma. With the exception of Jadot, I can't think of a single maison that draws across such a broad range of top vineyards. When taken together, the whites and reds provide insight to the performance of dozens of the finest sites in the region. Saouma is not much for comparisons when discussing 2010, saying quite simply, -2010 is 2010.- The vintage was not without some disappointments. Because of the miniscule yields, there is no 2010 Romanee St. Vivant or Richebourg. As always, these are some of the most unmanipulated wines being made in Burgundy. When I tasted the 2010s in November 2011, the wines had never been sulphured or racked. Saouma had just finished bottling his 2009s (a vintage many bottled on the early side) in October 2011! Importers: Vintus LLC, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (914) 769-3000, Atherton Imports, Menlo Park, CA; tel. (650) 328-6639