La Grande Rue

La Grande Rue is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) and Grand Cru vineyard for red wine in the Côte de Nuits subregion of Burgundy, with Pinot Noir as the main grape variety.

In general its character is feminine rather than powerful, but it has some of the character of the neighbouring La Tâche, but is more delicate. "The overall style is fruity with fresh, red fruit aromas and gentle tannins ...Young it shows a promising note of petits fruits rouges and hints of blackcurrant. These positive, complex aromas overlay a wine of dimension and substance, with length and finesse; a complete wine without being in any way heavy." It can contain "nuances of raspberry and violet",with a bouquet of "a profusion of flowers" "It gains from being decanted and often delivers wild game aromas ... Age embellishes it"

It is situated within the commune of Vosne-Romanée and is a monopole of Domaine Lamarche. It is shaped as a narrow strip running in the east-west direction down the fall-line of the slope, betweenLa Tâche and "les Gaudichots" to the south, and, separated by a narrow road, Aux Reignots, La Romanée, Romanée-Conti, and Romanée-Saint-Vivant to the north; it borders "aux Champs Perdix" upslope to the west. The grand cru appellation occupies an area of 1.6525 hectares, 1.4207 in the historic lieu-dit Grande Rue,and parcels of .2096h and .0222h in "les Gaudichots". The vineyard was principally planted in 1896, 1939, and 1968; 4 ouvrées were torn out in 1950 and again in 1981, 20 in 1968-9.

"François' philosophy was that a fine wine ... should maximize finesse rather than matière; that tannins and stuffing should take second place to charm and elegance ... cuvées rarely passed 13° ... Nicole has made a few changes, notably a longer pre-fermentation cold maceration, made possible by the purchase of better cooling equipment. Fermentationstill takes place in open wooden cuves ... the ideal temperature remains low at 28° and cuvaison lasts on average 12-15 days. The wines are aged for 18-20 months in cask and only racked if reductive aromas develop. They are bottled without fining or filtration ... The amount of new oak is under review. Recently, 100% new barrels have been used in good years; much less in lighter vintages"

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Wikipedia