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Stylized image of Domaine Michel Gros Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits Rouge Saint Martin 2022

Michel Gros: Where the Reasonable Cellar Began

The historic Burgundy figure Jean Gros had numerous children. Under French law, property is divided equally among one’s offspring. So Jean had a problem: each child would inherit a parcel of Burgundy that was too small for efficient wine production.

Jean had a solution to this problem: the Hautes Côtes de Nuits. This area, high above Vosne Romanee – where the Gros family was based – had produced wines for centuries before being wiped out by phylloxera at the end of the 19th. For decades, the area fell into disuse.

Jean Gros needed more wine parcels to leave to his children, and this land was cheap. In the early 1970s, he bought Hautes Côtes de Nuits vineyards and resurrected them with new plantings. 

By 1990, some of this land was in the hands of Jean’s son, Michel Gros. That year, he produced a red wine from it – “Hautes Côtes de Nuits Rouge” – that would make, in its tiny sort of way, Flatiron history. Around 2005, Flatiron’s founders drank a bottle of this 1990 and were absolutely blown away, with comparisons to Richebourg in their tasting notes. 15 years later, in the heart of COVID, they tried a second bottle with several staff, and the performance was the same: just shockingly good and Vosne-like mature Burgundy. This wine was the inspiration behind Flatiron’s “Edges of Burgundy”, the “Reasonable Cellar” and our commitment to finding great values in unexpected places.

Today, Michel Gros bottles one portion of his holdings there separately – both red wine and white wine – because he regards it as particularly special. We have both today. We also have the red wine blended from his remaining Hautes-Côtes-de-Nuits holdings – a little more accessible today, and cheaper. 

These are wines that will make you keep believing in Burgundy:

Domaine Michel Gros Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits Rouge Saint Martin 2022 - $44.99
"Nose is slightly riper, a bit more elegant with its combination of red and blue pinot fruit, spice, discreet floral hints. I very much like the texture of the energetic and slightly denser flavors that exude evident minerality on the dusty, lightly austere and sneaky long finale." - Burghound


This story was originally featured in our newsletter, where it was offered at a special subscribers-only discount. Subscribers get special offers, the first look at new discoveries, invites to events, and stories about wines and the artisans that make them.