Clos Frantin Vosne Romanee Malconsorts 1er Cru 2016 (750ML)

94-95 JS / 93 DE / 90-92 WA / 90 BH / 17+ JR

– Beautiful crushed roses with an array of fresh raspberries and red cherries, as well as light mocha and oak spices in the background. The palate has excellent tannin maturity and depth. A bold, explosive finish. This is exceptional. This elegant vintage has delivered a wine with real clarity and detail. But still needs some time. Try from 2024.—James Suckling

The nose is intense but still severe, with minty, oaky aromas wrestling the cherry fruit. It’s very concentrated and powerful, and has swagger and energy, perhaps at the expense of some refinement. There’s ample extract here but no toughness, and good length.—Stephen Brooks, Decanter

The 2016 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts was picked on 30 September, matured in 40% new oak with 35% whole bunch. It has a sophisticated bouquet with cranberry and raspberry fruit, wilted violets and blood orange, gaining more and more refinement with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, saturated tannin, a crisp bead of acidity and then it clams up toward the peppery finish. It will requite four or five years in bottle but it should turn out to be a fine, if not top tier, Malconsorts.—Neal Martin, The Wine Advocate

Tasting note: A relatively deeply pitched nose offers plenty of floral and spice elements along with notes of plum, dark cherry and a touch of Asian-style tea that are trimmed in discreet but not invisible wood. As is usually the case there is excellent volume and a taut muscularity to the sappy broad-shouldered flavors that flash good depth though the austere bitter cherry pit-inflected finish that is markedly compact and fairly short. While that in and of itself is not a flaw, it's not immediately clear that this is necessarily going to better harmonize with time even though I have indicated about when I estimate the tannins will have mostly subsided.—Allen Meadows, Burghound
Black cherry, dry tannin, firm and fragrant and juicy. Still in its first flush, with impressive purity of fruit but not much flavour development. Their village Vosne has the better quality:price ratio. (RH)—Richard Hemming MW, Jancis Robinson