The two 1ers Crus have had to be blended together this year, half Beaumonts and half Rouges du Bas. Bright clear colour. Definitely a reductive character up front, though this is getting steadily less. Yeast stress during vinification is the cause, suggests Cécile. With swirling the fruit comes clear. Brilliant fruit beneath, dancing and with classic tensile strength. Benefit of the doubt as the finish is wonderful, Drink from 2027-2034. Tasted Nov 2022.

As Cécile Tremblay observed, one “would not expect that these two terroirs, one cold and one warm, would work together in a blended cuvée, but they have really turned out beautifully as a single wine.” The beautiful nose offers up scents of sweet dark berries, black cherries, duck, raw cocoa, woodsmoke, Vosne spice tones, a marvelous foundation of dark soil tones and nutty new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, nascently complex and full, with a lovely core of fruit, refined balance, excellent focus and a very long, soil-driven and tangy finish. This is superb. (Drink between 2033-2085)

Yields were so small that Tremblay blended her Beaux Monts and Rouge Dessus together to produce two barrels of 2021 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru. Offering up aromas of rose petals, dark berries, spices and orange rind, it's medium to full-bodied, ample and satiny, with notable mid-palate volume, lively acids and a long, saline finish. As is my custom, I began my formal tastings of the 2021 vintage with Cécile Tremblay, catching the wines before they took their elevator ride to the ground floor preparatory to their racking and bottling next year. Given that this is a red Burgundy vintage that notably improved at many addresses between September and mid-December, one might imagine that my timing disadvantaged Tremblay's wines, but even tasted at this early stage, they stand out as some of the most compelling of the year. Indeed, I found myself thinking that I could sign up for a vintage of this style every year—if only it could come without the ravages of frost and the challenges of disease pressure, of course. Sensual, perfumed and precise, Tremblay's 2021s are especially well-integrated, and while they represent a notable change of pace after the saturated, concentrated 2020s, they represent a terrific success in a more traditionally Burgundian register. Alas, tiny quantities and insatiable demand mean that the wines will be harder than ever to find.(WK)