2006 Vincent Girardin, Vosne-Romanee Vieilles Vignes, Red Burgundy

Vincent Girardin is a pretty reliable producer in Burgundy, I was surprised by this wine specifically with regard to the fact that it seems to be dying a slow death or should I say fast.  While I know it is a Village wine (Burgundy has three levels of "quality," Village, Premier, and Grand Cru) I was expecting much more from a great producer, in a not so great year.  We will get into the wine in a few seconds.  It is worth talking a little about how Burgundy is classified.

I said "quality" above because in Burgundy you can have Villages that are better than Premier Cru's, and Premier Cru's that are better than Grand Cru's.  It's all in how the producer works his plot of land, which on average is very very small.  One owner will own say one row of vines while the vines behind his are likely owned by another producer, all within the same vineyard or field.  Therefore, within Burgundy you have a lot of producers, some better than others.  Instead of the producers being classified (like the Medoc of Bordeaux, it was the Chateau, typically one owner and large, that was ranked into first, second, third growth etc) the vineyards themselves are classified.

2006 Vincent Girardin, Vosne-Romanee, Vieilles Vignes, Burgundy
consumed May 14, 2011, Retail $39.99

On to the wine, it had a certain smokey haze in a deep garnet-ruby color.  The first thing I noticed was that the wine seemed to be evolving with a noticeable oxidized nose, smelling like sherry.  Behind this was a faint grab bag of tart cherry, raspberry, floral, violets, damp earth, cedar that seemed to disappear after about ten minutes of being open that is when the sherry like qualities took over and what seemed to be a pretty descent nose was gone.  On the palate, the tart cherry and cedar came through followed up by an abrupt finish. The wine showed a racing acidity with a tannic structure that gave the wine a strong backbone.  I am sure this wine was a great "value" wine three years ago (depending on what you consider to be value, as it was 40 bucks!).  At age five it seems to be just about finished.

Does this change my view of Vincent Girardin? Not at all.  I have had some excellent wines from this producer.  Maybe an off vintage and an introductory wine from his vast portfolio that wasn't meant to be aged five+ years?

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