"90-92 Points Neal Martin, Vinous.com
Finesse
The 2022 Vosne-Romanée Village was taken from barrel, with just a handful of stems added. The crisp bouquet is backward at first yet tensile with a hint of lavender. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins. It’s a fine-boned and focused Vosne with light grip and admirable transparency on the finish. Finesse. Drinking Window 2025 - 2035, Reviewed October 2023"
Amélie Berthaut has established herself as the leading light of the village of Fixin, having only been put in charge of the estate in 2013 by her father, she has completely overhauled the style of the wines and introduced beautiful freshness and finesse throughout her range. These drink beautifully from the off but also have the inherent balance to age well.
Neal Martin, Vinous.com
“It was a weird season for me because it was warm in July,” Berthaut tells me, safely distanced as she has the sniffles, “but we had lots of rain in June, mostly in Gevrey and Fixin, less than in Côte de Beaune. It was dry and hot. The Fixin Les Arvelets and Gevrey Lavaut suffered some hail damage on June 22 and necessitated sorting of damaged berries. We thought we would have a harvest in mid-August, but it was so warm that it blocked maturity. There was some rain, which was good. The harvest started on August 26 and finished on September 10 in the Hautes-Côtes. The alcohol is not so high, 13.2% maximum. The wines were fermented in concrete without so many stems because of the space, not because of the volume of stems but because of the new cuvées from my mother’s side from the 2013 vintage.” I adored this range from Berthaut: pure fruit, fine extract, and nascent wines that brim with energy. Head for her unimpeachable range of Fixin cuvées, especially her over-performing En Combe Roy and Les Crais, which match the Premier Cru of Les Arvelets pound-for-pound. Best in show? A stunning Vosne-Romanée Les Petits-Monts, which, inexplicably, Berthaut expressed dissatisfaction towards, at least in terms of the viticulture. I told her that what counts is in the glass, and even if there are improvements to be made out in the vine, that doesn’t color my arguably more objective judgments that it’s a wine I would love to have in my cellar. In fact, I preferred this to the Echézeaux, as good as that is too.
