La-Grande-Rue

Its refined and un-insistent colour is characteristic of the rest of the range, while the nose is discreet offering a variety of red fruits, including raspberries, which suggests intensity while remaining subtle. This is wonderfully full on the palate, still in its own restrained way, so that you have to let it come to you. But there is a dancing, ethereal magic nonetheless. It needs longer in barrel.

Sadly there is no more wine here than in 2013 after a poor flowering. Nicole Lamarche picked from 16th September until the 22nd, reporting no problems in vinification or élévage and opting for a light touch in vinification, noting that each wine is very different from the others this year. This is another fine range from the Lamarches, offering sensible value for money.

We cannot remember tasting a young Grande Rue as magisterial as this, which shows itself to be head and shoulders above the rest of this excellent range. Impressively rich purple in colour, this offers a very pure nose, with great intensity and there is plenty of structure behind without dependence on new wood. Astonishing length of flavour, really complex as well. The nobility of this wine really stands out in 2012.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

Nathalie Lamarche recalls that the harvest began on 22nd September with acceptable yields in the Vosne-Romanée vineyards, about the same as for 2011. In vinification Nicole Lamarche uses a small proportion of whole bunches, while the amount of new wood in the barrel cellar has been reduced to a maximum of 50% for the Grands Crus. This is the best selection of wines that Nicole Lamarche has produced since taking control of the winemaking in 2007. In short, a really fine range.

The nose of this wine is sensational, very high class as ever, with a touch of refined oak. The wine displays very lifted fruit and is long and delicious with exceptional persistence. La Grande Rue is coming into its own in Nicole’s hands.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director The bad news at Domaine Lamarche is that the 2011 crop is actually less than 2010. We have done our best to keep prices stable, though the price of La Grande Rue has deservedly increased this year. Everything else is good news; Nicole Lamarche, assisted by her cousin Nathalie, is steadily growing in assurance, delivering an excellent set of wines this year. She continues to reduce the amount of new wood used while the vineyards, which are now farmed organically, are getting the care and attention that they need. The future is in good hands.

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This monopoly of Domaine Lamarche sits between La Tâche and Romanée-Conti. The bouquet of the 2009 La Grande Rue Grand Cru is absolutely stunning, displaying intense, yet refined red fruit, overlaid with some new oak in perfect harmony. Little waves of flavour float across the palate and soft, charming red fruit is backed by a delicious fresh finish with acidity and tannin perfectly integrated. This is not a blockbuster but it is exceptionally fine. Expect a long future.

This is bright, full purple, with magical detail in the bouquet. The intensity is clearly there, albeit restrained. The wine is backward but nonetheless indicates a sensation of multi-layered detail beneath the pure red fruit background. There are subtleties of texture here too. The wine is currently showing its oak but that will integrate easily enough. The wine has attractive points of acidity, rather than tannin, to complete the balance. Drink 2025-2038.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

The Lamarches began on 10th September, picking over six days and realising better yields than in 2014. This year Nicole Lamarche has been able to make exactly the wines which she wants to make, avoiding deep extraction while using around 30 percent whole bunches. Do not expect dark colours and overt concentration, but if your taste is for elegant, floral, eventually ethereal wines then this is the place to be.

The long thin strip of La Grande Rue, the Lamarche monopole, is the ham in the sandwich between Romanée-Conti and La Tâche. There was no frost here at all. The impression now is of something meatier, stronger, richer, but also layered and detailed. In the final analysis, ineffable. A worthy conclusion to a beguiling flight of wines. Drink 2025-2040.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

Domaine Lamarche today produces 14 different wines from 11 hectares. Ancestors of the Lamarche family were already living in the village of Vosne-Romanée in 1740, though the domaine was really established in the early 20th century. Henri Lamarche, born in 1903, received La Grande Rue in 1933 as a wedding present. Henri was succeeded by his son François and now his granddaughters; Nicole in charge of winemaking and Nathalie on the marketing side. As well as more meticulous work in the vineyards, better barrel selection and a new cuverie (since 2000) have combined to make this a fine and consistent domaine. This was a vintage to truly deliver Nicole Lamarche’s ambitions. Already on a road to make the most delicate, ineffable expressions of Pinot Noir – organic, unfined and unfiltered – this year the quality and health of the fruit has allowed her to eschew new oak as well. There is a policy to use 30 percent whole-bunch throughout the range. For Nicole this is a spiritual vintage, the quintessence of Pinot Noir, whose core she has tried to express through the extraordinary collection of terroirs she has under her, and her cousin Nathalie’s, stewardship. But, tragically, frost has reduced the domaine’s total yield by half and their Les Suchots was practically wiped out with an 80 percent loss.

A pure, fresh, deep purple, this has suggestions of great class on the nose, but nothing really wanting to give. Then it has amazing suavity on the palate, with good structure behind but the fruit dominates the tannins easily. Very long, pure, red fruit and blood orange on the finish. 
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

Harvest began 6th October, the grapes in surprisingly healthy condition given the weather, allowing Nicole to use some whole bunches. There is a tiny bit more wine than in 2011 and 2012 but a really poor flowering reduced the crop and spun out the flowering. In vinification, Nicole opted to extract less than in other years. The Grands Crus are sold in wooden cases.

La Grande Rue is sandwiched neatly between Romanée-Conti and La Tâche, but arguably doesn’t always receive the recognition it deserves, certainly under Nicole’s stewardship. It’s not as dense or powerful as the Grands Échezeaux, but has greater elegance and complexity. The 50 percent new oak is seamlessly integrated, giving a wine of great breeding and class. Intense, pure and very fine with a chalky, floral finish that goes on and on, it still only shows a glimpse of what is to come. Drink 2025-2037.

After the frost of 2016, Nicole feels that the worst-affected parcels struggled somewhat this year, meaning Suchots and the lower part of Clos de Vougeot are less plentiful than she had hoped. Despite this, she believes her organic viticulture is useful in making the vines more resilient. The winemaking follows the now-established pattern of around a third whole bunches across the range, with new oak reaching 50 percent for La Grande Rue. Nicole is particularly fond of the 2017 vintage, praising the wines’ energy, elegance, ripe tannins, long finishes and, above all, balance.