1997 "La Grande Rue", domaine Henri Lamarche

Hi,

Merry Christmas everyone.

Like most of us, I enjoyed a good lunch on this occasion.

We had a very nice Sauternes from Bommes, 2001 Domaine de Carbonnieu with the foie gras. The wine looked prematurely deep, but was showing very well with a fine, complex, botrytized nose. It only fell down really on the aftertaste, which had neither the power nor the bitter "return" I expect from the best Sauternes.
Still, I'm not complaining.

Where I am complaining is about the Burgundy I pulled out for the roast venison. The 1997 Vosne Romanée grand cru "La Grande Rue" is located between la Romanée-Conti and La Tâche. Not bad, eh? The estate is a monopole of domaine Henri Lamarche. The wine had a weak, very evolved color (but hey, this is Burgundy, I can live with that) and a good, but rather non-descript bouquet. The palate was disjointed. I can't say that the wine was too old by any means. But it was surely out of balance. Powerful, but not generous, tannic, but with rustic, tough tannin.
We finished the bottle, but it only confirmed our impression of fine Burgundy as a very elusive thing.

Best regards,
Alex R.

La Grande Rue has an interesting history. As you say, it's a narrow strip of vineyard nestled between Romanee-Conti and La Tache. Yet until rather recently it was only rated Premier Cru. Why? Because the owner at the time they did the classifications refused to pay the 20 franc (or thereabouts) fee to get the Grand Cru registration! It took decades of bickering and litigation for later owners to get this mistake corrected, but eventually it was.

Unfortunately, Lamarche's La Grande Rue traditionally been considered one of those wines that doesn't live up to the pedigree of the land. Your experience seems to confirm that. Those aren't the sort of tasting notes one expects for a Burgundy grand cru.

-Paul W.

Paul's right as usual, if there was a poll about underperforming GCs I'd guess La Grande Rue would be quickly be mentioned (although I had one from the late 80s I thought was very good). Lots of people think in last few vintages they have turned it around somewhat.

Generalizing about Burgundy GC based on one La Grande Rue is a bit like deciding Margaux is weak because one doesn't like a Rausan-Gassies, Durfort-Vivens, or Lascombes from an uneven vintage during periods they were often considered underperformers.

Dale,

If only grand cru Burgundy were as cheap as the estates you described...

No, I haven't given up on Burgundy because of this experience, but have always considered the wines of the Côte d'Or far more a roll of the dice compared with other vineyard regions.

Frustratingly, some of the top wines of my life have been Burgundies....

Best regards,
Alex R.