2019 Emmanuel Rouget, Vosne-Romanee Premier Cru, Cros Parantoux, Bottle (750ml)

The 2018 Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Cros Parantoux exhibits aromas of raspberries, red cherries, orange rind, smoked duck and spices. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, amply endowed with powdery structuring tannins and underpinned by succulent acids. The finish is long and penetrating. Harvested on September 10, the Cros Parantoux attained fully 14.4% alcohol this year. The 2018 vintage set a new but short-lived record at Domaine Emmanuel Rouget, in that the Cros Parantoux?a later-ripening site?checked in at fully 14.4% alcohol, a figure soon surpassed, only a year later, by the even headier 2019 vintage. Rouget picked quite late this year, waiting for full phenolic maturity, and the wines have turned out well: richer and more textural than the 2017s but hiding their alcohol. No doubt, long elevage in the family's cool, humid cellars in Flagey-Echezeaux helps with integration, too. There's just as much fruit as in 2017 but more carnal nuance, and parallels with the 1990 vintage might not be far-fetched, even if the 2018 weather was somewhat more extreme. I wrote last that the house style at this address is fleshy, even dramatic, and that for the better part of the last decade, it has arguably been more consistently realized than in any other era of the domaine's history, and this successful 2018 portfolio gives me no grounds to modify that favorable pronouncement. (WK)" (January 2020)