Terroir Insight: Domaine Grivot, Vosne-Romanee Aux Reignots

Vosne Romanee Aux Reignots is becoming more and more acclaimed as the quality increases – and while good wines were made before 2000 the quality today from several top producers like Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair, Domaine Grivot and Domaine Cathiard is much higher – and this places Aux Reignots amongst the most interesting terroirs of the Vosne 1er crus.

One of the very best Aux Reignots has in recent vintages been the very rare bottling from Domaine Grivot. It’s now a quite a good match for the top wine of the appellation the excellent Reignots from Louis-Michel Liger-Belair.

So lets take a closer look at the Grivot Reignots!

Aux Reignots at the top of La Romanee

Aux Reignots is located just above La Romanee between Les Petits Monts to the north and Champs Perdrix to the south – see map below.

Click on the map to enlarge

The vineyard is 1.62 ha – split in 20 plots and there are currently 10 owners on the vineyard.

The diminuative Grivot plot on Reignots

Domaine Grivot is one of the smaller owners on Aux Reignots – the plot is only 0.0745 ha of this fragmented but delightful 1er cru.

The current owners of Aux Reignots are:

1. Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair – 0.6959 ha
2. Domaine Cathiard – 0.2468 ha
3. Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux – 0.1846 ha
4. Domaine Pernin-Rossin – 0.0954 ha
5. Domaine Felettig – 0.0943 ha
6. Domaine Bruno Clair – 0.0780 ha
7. Domaine Grivot – 0.0746 ha
8. Domaine Sirugue – 0.0745 ha
9. Domaine Audiffred – 0.0435 ha
10. Domaine de la Romanee-Conti – 0.0360 ha

The ownership map below show the different holdings – Pernin-Rossin, Felettig and Chathiard have more than one plot, and these plots are not connected … so indeed still a quite fragmented vineyard.

Click on the map to enlarge

Please note – the small DRC plot is leased to Louis-Michel Liger-Belair and is included in his Aux Reignots – it’s the plot 10 on the ownership map. 

The map shows that the Grivot plot (7) is located in the bottom part towards the Les Petits Monts plot of Domaine de la Romanee Conti.

After tasing several different wines from Aux Reignots the bottom part is – all things being equal – perhaps the best part of the vineyard – and was considered as such in the 1861 classification. The wines produced from the bottom part seem to have more weight and body, and the minerality does seem more intense. 

As one moves up the hill the minerality seem to be more refined and filigree and perhaps more like Les Petits-Monts whereas the lower part is more like Gaudichots with a more intense stony minerality. But with different styles of the producers this is difficult to have a firm and really qualified opinion about.