Michel Gros
This used to be the Jean Gros domaine, but has now been divided between Michel and his sister Anne-Françoise. Michel, forty-three years old, is quite shy and retiring for a tall man – who looks somewhat like the original cartoon version of the Pink Panther’s Inspector Clouseau. With the jockeying for possession of the vineyards now over, this estate supplemented by newly rented vines in Premier Cru wines, is very much at the top of the pile.
The wines here (as opposed to Bernard Gros, A-F Gros, and Anne Gros as the other Gros domaines are now known for simplicity) are the finest. The colours are less dark than many wines which tends to give the impression to those that are not used to them that they are weedy and dilute. This is most definitely not the case. The wines with age take on an extraordinary complexity that is simply mind-boggling, with an exuberance of fruit that is extraordinary. Anyone lucky enough to have a bottle of the older vintages that we offered recently can testify to that. Colour is not the be all and end all: Pinot is normally not a dark coloured wine anyhow. Cold pre-fermentation can enhance the colour (at the loss of complexity and subtlety) or new clones of Pinot that have been planted over the last few years have been bred to produce darker wines, as this is what the public associate with quality wine. It is not necessarily the case. Granted there are weak coloured wines that are obtained from over cropping, dilution by rain, excessive use of sulphur etc. but there are also wines that will always be paler because of the type of Pinot planted in years gone by – and this domaine is one of them