Chambolle Musigny La Combe d'Orveau 2024 Domaine Anne Gros

The Chambolle-Musigny La Combe d'Orveau 2024 from Domaine Anne Gros is among the most seductive and accessible cuvées in the range, and a benchmark reference for the Chambolle-Musigny appellation. This village in the Côte de Nuits is renowned for producing the most feminine, floral and delicate Pinot Noirs in all Burgundy. In the hands of Anne Gros, La Combe d'Orveau reveals vintage after vintage an elegance, salinity and freshness that make it a wine of immense pleasure and serious ageing potential, one of the benchmark bottles of a terroir that unmistakably shares the character of its Vosne-Romanée neighbours.

The terroir of La Combe d'Orveau

La Combe d'Orveau is an exceptional 1.1 hectare parcel, bequeathed by Louis Gros to his son François upon his death in 1951, a family transmission that speaks volumes about the value the Gros family attributed to this land for generations. Positioned at the exact southern boundary between Chambolle-Musigny and Vosne-Romanée, the parcel sits at the first scree slopes of the combe, that precise and fascinating place where the alluvial cone opens, giving birth to the terroirs of Échézeaux and Clos Vougeot. This geographic crossroads position between two great communes confers on La Combe d'Orveau its unique character and stylistic duality: it possesses the floral finesse and airy lightness of Chambolle-Musigny, while unmistakably sharing the depth, minerality and Vosne character of its southern neighbours. The soils comprise white marl and stony earth rich in very fine limestone scree, a light, well-draining substrate of remarkable mineral richness. This explains the pale ruby colour and typicity of the wines, conferring on Pinot Noir a natural freshness preserved even in the sunniest vintages. The vineyard faces due east on twenty-year-old vines, hand-harvested and 100 per cent destemmed, vinified in cement-lined vats and aged for 12 months in 500 litre casks with 30 to 40 per cent new wood.

Tasting profile

The robe is a brilliant, luminous ruby, with the lightness and transparency characteristic of Chambolle-Musigny's marly soils. The nose displays immediate elegance and finesse, among the finest expressions of the variety across all Burgundy: notes of redcurrant, fresh raspberry and blackcurrant open with spontaneity and crunch, before flowers of incomparable delicacy emerge, fresh rose, potpourri, violet, peony, lifted by sweet spice and musky notes, with omnipresent chalky minerality signing the white marl imprint of the terroir. On the palate, elegance reigns supreme: the attack is of extreme finesse, the substance delicate, saline and precisely defined, the tannins exceptionally silky and integrated, stemming from gentle extraction that preserves all the refinement of the variety. The finish is long, fresh, lightly peppery and mineral, stretching across grenadine and blackcurrant notes of remarkable persistence and purity. A wine accessible now in all its delicacy, yet capable of beautiful evolution over a minimum of fifteen years.

The domaine

Anne Gros comes from one of the oldest winemaking families of the Côte de Nuits. The Gros family has been present in Vosne-Romanée since 1830. She took the reins of the family domaine in 1988, at just eighteen years old, bringing immediate sensitivity, rigour and professionalism to the management of 6.5 hectares spread across Bourgogne, Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny, Vosne-Romanée and four Grand Crus. Her son Paul and daughter Julie are progressively taking over day-to-day operations, ensuring continuity of a path of excellence built over more than thirty years. Winemaking is traditional and precise: total destemming, fermentation in indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled cement-lined vats, gentle extraction, 12 to 15 days of fermentation, and ageing in 500 litre casks with a measured proportion of new wood according to appellation. Production is very limited and among the most sought-after of the Côte de Nuits.

Food and wine pairings

This Chambolle-Musigny La Combe d'Orveau pairs beautifully with roast pigeon with peas and lardons, quail stuffed with mushrooms and foie gras, venison in cocoa crust with mushroom duxelles, roasted red meats or traditional coq au vin. It will also find harmony with aged soft cheese like Époisses or Soumaintrain. Served between 15 and 17°C, with an hour of decanting advised, it will reveal all the floral finesse, mineral freshness and refined elegance of an exceptional Chambolle-Musigny.