Francois Lamarche Vosne Romanee 'les Suchots' 1er Cru 2011

Tasting note:

Francois Lamarche

The Lamarche family settled in the small village of Vosne-Romanée (Côte d'Or - Burgundy) around 1740. They expanded their estate and Henri Lamarche founded the domain in the early 20th century. He already produced and sold his wines directly from the domain.

In 1933 he married Aline Demur and as a 'wedding gift' he inherited the vineyard of "La Grande Rue". His son François took over the domain when his father died in 1985. It is mainly François who made every effort to have the Monopole "La Grande Rue" recognized as a Grand Cru in 1989 (and it was eventually promoted in 1992).

The vineyard itself is just a narrow strip of about 50 meters wide, 1.65 hectares in size and located just above "La Romanée" Grand Cru (the smallest Grand Cru in Burgundy). Sadly, François Lamarche died in a tractor accident near his family's holiday home in 2013, but his daughter Nicole, his sister Geneviève and his niece Nathalie were already involved in the business and currently run the property.

Domaine Lamarche produces a total of 14 wines from 11.3 ha of vineyards, including beautiful plots in "Clos de Vougeot" Grand Cru (1.35 ha), Echézeaux Grand Cru (1.32 ha), Grands Echézeaux (0.30 ha) , Grands Echézeaux (0.30 ha) and various plots with top 1er Crus in the Vosges-Romanese-Roman region, such as "Les Suchots" (0.58 ha), "Les Chaumes" (0.56 ha) and "Aux Malconsorts" (0.50 ha).

All these wines are highly sought after and the overall quality improves with each vintage. Fantastic recent wines in general, and for "La Grande Rue" in particular, are: 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015.