2016 - Vosne-Romanee Au-dessus des Malconsorts, Benjamin Leroux

(12.8% alcohol; vinified in a new oak barrel, then aged in a two-year-old barrique; very early malo; vinified with 80% whole clusters; no hail here): Good medium red. Pristine perfume of black cherry, violet, licorice and crushed stone, lifted by a topnote of blood orange. Wonderfully silky, dry wine with inner-mouth floral lift and crushed-rock minerality. Verging on austere on the back end, finishing with penetrating dryness and superb rising length. Leroux plans to bottle this wine directly from the barrel, probably in magnums. These vines are on a rocky site at the top of the vineyard, which Leroux describes as much more minerally than the foot of the slope. He added that the vines are only 35 to 40 years old.