DOMAINE GROS FRÈRE ET SOEUR
Vosne-Romanée
The Gros family is a prominent family in the village of Vosne-Romanée with links to winemaking that go back to the early 1800s.
There are today essentially four separate Gros Domaines, all related to each other: Gros Frère et Sœur, Anne Gros, Anne-Françoise Gros and Michel Gros.
All four estates were born from the distribution of Domaine Louis Gros founded in 1930. Following the death of Louis Gros in 1951, his four children (François, Jean, Gustave, and Colette) jointly ran the Domaine until 1963 when the holdings were split up. François and Jean started their eponymous domaines while Gustave and Colette combined their inheritance to start Domaine Gros Frère et Soeur.
In 1984, Gustave died and Bernard Gros, his nephew, took over. Bernard replanted all the parcels one after the other and increased the size of the vineyard by 12 hectares. Bernard and his son Vincent now run the estate together.
Today, the estate covers 19 hectares of vines, including 3 hectares of white. Their holdings include the Grands Crus Clos Vougeot, Echezeaux, Grands Echezeaux, Richebourg and 6 Premiers crus appellations: Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru les Cras, 5 Vosne-Romanée 1er cru (aux Brûlées, Chaumes, Petits Monts, aux Reignots, Suchots), 3 Vosne-Romanée Village and 1 Nuits-Saint-Georges Village.
In the Vineyard
The vineyards are farmed according to lutte raisonnée principles.
Throughout the year, work is carried out in the vineyard to restrict the yields. Bertrand firmly believes that low yields are the key to get concentrated wines with pure fruity characters.
In winter, whether the pruning method is Guyot or Cordon de Royat, only eight buds are left on each vine stock.
Later in the season, disbudding is done to increase the quantity of sap provided to the main bud and leave rising to help prevent diseases. Green harvesting is completed so only a few grape bunches are left on each vine stock.
And finally, leaves are removed at the height of the grape bunches, on the sunrise side, so that grapes are not burnt by the sun and so the grape bunches are separated by a reasonable distance preventing further diseases and rot.
Before the vintage, Bertrand and Vincent regularly look at the grape maturity in each vineyard. Harvest is done by hand.
In the Cellar
After a thorough sorting on a vibrating table, the grapes are fully de-stemmed.
The wines are vinified in concrete tanks with a built-in metal cooling device. Remontage is performed before fermentation begins and during fermentation, pigage is carried out twice a day.
The wines are then matured in oak barrels, 100% new for the Grand Crus, and 50% for the Premier Crus. Bernard Gros recognizes the importance of oak on wine and he carefully selects the wood with which they are produced and monitors the toast. The wines are not racked the first year, as Bernard prefers to let the wine rest on their lees.
Filtration is performed only if necessary.
Richebourg Grand Cru
This Richebourg Grand Cru comes from a 0.7-hectare parcel that was partially replanted in 1985 and 1989.
Clos Vougeot Grand Cru
Musigni
The Gros’ holding is located in Musigni part of the Clos. Vines here were replanted in 1989.
Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
Les Chaumes
Only 2 barrels of Les Chaumes is produced yearly.
Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
This Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru is made from vines in the Grand Cru vineyard of Echézeaux that Bertrand decides to declassify due to the young age of the vines.
Vosne-Romanée Village
This Vosne-Romanée Village is a blend of many parcel that total 1.5 hectares of vines.
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits Rouge
This cuvée comes from the hameau of Concoeur et Corboin, located north of Vosne-Romanée. The Pinot Noirs here were planted by Bernard and cover close to 9 hectares of vines.
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits Blanc
This cuvée comes from the hameau of Concoeur et Corboin, located north of Vosne-Romanée. The Chardonnay here were planted by Bernard and cover close to 3 hectares of vines.
