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2004 Anne Gros Clos Vougeot

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Year: 2004 Appellation: Clos Vougeot Country: France International Wine Cellar: 89-92 Burghound Rating: 89-91	$109.99
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Burghound Issue 21
Producer note: Anne Gros told me that in contrast to some growers, she had "no real problem with oidium and no real problems with rot either. We had some hail issues but thankfully none at all in the Hautes Côtes. In fact, most of the triage work that my picking team did was to eliminate under ripe berries than anything dried or rot-tinged. We obtained good sugars at between 12.5 and 13.5%, which given the conditions of the growing season is more than satisfactory, especially when you consider that at the end of August there was still a large percentage of green berries. In that sense, it's hard to believe that the vintage was essentially made in only 3 weeks. We did a green harvest but even so, this is not an especially concentrated vintage and thus I tended to let the cuvaisons go for a day or two longer than normal. Overall, I like the vintage as it's very Burgundian in style though let's be honest, it's good but not better than that and certainly not as good as 2003, which I prefer by a huge margin. Still, when I think of the impending disaster and what could have been when I looked at the vineyards in August, I am thrilled with the results!" As her comments suggest, Gros is a fan of her 2003s and believes them to be among, if not the, best wines that she has ever made. And there is no question, they are impressive if not classic.
Tasting note: A noticeable but still background touch of wood spice frames earthy, ripe and nicely elegant dark berry fruit aromas with a distinct animale undertone that introduce very rich and forward flavors lacking neither punch nor power, particularly on the balanced and intense finish. This builds nicely from the mid-palate on back and possesses real finishing verve with less austerity than usual as there is a lovely texture of velvet buffering the underlying tannins. Burghound 89-91points