La Grande Rue Grand Cru

La Grande Rue is a narrow strip of vines running up the slope of Vosne-Romanée, between 250 and 290 meters, with Romanée-Conti and La Romanée to the north and La Tâche to the south. A red from Pinot Noir covering 1.65 hectares, it is the commune's most recent Grand Cru: the decree of July 2, 1992, joined two small parcels of Les Gaudichots to the lieu-dit of the same name.

The name, in use since about 1450, is the oldest lieu-dit still current in the commune. The main parcel belonged to a family of the Burgundian nobility until the eighteenth century; confiscated during the Revolution, it was later enlarged with the neighboring parcels and in the nineteenth century became a monopole. Surrounded by Grands Crus, it long remained a Premier Cru of Vosne-Romanée: the family that has owned it since 1933 applied for its promotion in the early eighties and obtained it in 1992.

The subsoil changes with elevation: lower down, on the gentle slope, hard crinoidal limestones beneath a few meters of marl; higher up, where it is steeper, soft Bathonian limestones; above them, a thin layer of debris and red clays and thin, free-draining soils. The wine combines power and finesse: structured in youth yet harmonious, with ripe red and black fruits, spices, flowers, leather, and humus, and decades of life ahead. The available bottles, when there are any, appear further down.