Domaine Marc Roy-Gevrey-Chambertin, Domaine Dujac, Labet Clos Vougeot

EVEN MORE RED BURGUNDY

Alexandrine Roy and her parents of the Domaine Marc Roy.
2011

 

DOMAINE MARC ROY

Some domaines are handed down from father to son for generations.  You can read about estates which have been in the family for several centuries.  Management of the Domaine Marc Roy recently transitioned from father to daughter.

 

 

The Roy estate comprises 3.5 hectares of Pinot Noir and a half a hectare of Chardonnay.  All four hectares are tended by Alexandrine Roy.  She handles the cellar work, too.

 

Alexandrine in a vineyard which looked more like a garden.  It's comprised of old vines and it's just a few steps from the cellar in Gevrey-Chambertin.

Dans la cave.

We're fans of the "old vines" bottling of Gevrey-Chambertin.  The fruit comes from little patches of vines scattered around Gevrey and these range in age from 50+ to around 70 years...

There's an elegance to the wine which we appreciate.  The cherry notes are bright and 'pure.'  The wine sees a bit of new oak generally, but it's merely for seasoning, not to distract from the regal character of Gevrey-Chambertin.   

Alexandrine says "I want fine tannins and balance in my wine.  I like the wine to show well in its youth." explaining how a young wine can "handle the wood."

"I trust my grapes." she says.

The 2018 Gevrey-Chambertin is in stock presently.  Terrific wine.  Lots of red fruits.  Pomegranate and cherry with a little floral tone, too.  It's easy to enjoy in its youth, yet these wines tend to age most gracefully.  

The domaine also has a small parcel of vines near Fixin within the Marsannay appellation.  Forty year old vines...barrel fermented, with 20% new oak.  No malolactic and the resulting wine is quite pretty and dry.  It's not plentiful in terms of total case production, so we are fortunate to have a few bottles from time to time.

 

Alexandrine Roy and me enjoying a "mystery" wine:
Her 2010 Gevrey Chambertin!
Delicious, too.

Currently in stock:  2018 DOMAINE MARC ROY Gevrey-Chambertin "Vieilles Vignes"   SALE $89.99
2021 DOMAINE MARC ROY Marsannay Blanc "Les Champs Perdrix"  SALE $84.99

 

 

 

Domaine Gros Frère et Soeur

The Gros family has been quite a presence in the village of Vosne-Romanée for many years.  We had been fans of the wines of Jean Gros back in the late 1970s and we were thrilled to be able to visit in the early 1980s.  
Madame Gros was not only the manager of the household and winery, she was also the mayor of the town.  And she did not like to be kept waiting, pointing out that we were late for our appointment.   This was in the days before GPS devices which can more easily guide you from one place to another...arriving on time in those days was more of a rarity than it is today.

Today there are three "Gros" domaines in the village:  Michel Gros, Anne Gros and Gros Frère et Soeur.  All produce some good wines.

Some years ago we hosted a young fellow from Macon to come and hang out in the shop for a few weeks to see the American wine industry and to polish his command of the English language.  He poked around the store his first day here and was simply beaming with joy when he saw we had a few wines from Gros Frère in the shop.

"My best friend is Vincent Gros...we see each other nearly every week in Beaune."  We asked him to give Vincent a shout and get him to open the door for us.  He did and we had a nice visit and tasting.

Vincent's father Bernard took over the property from his Uncle Gustav in the early 1980s and set about replanting many of the vineyards.  When we visited in 2013, the house and cellar seemed to be undergoing a major renovation. Most people have the romantic notion of dark cellars, dirt floors, a few barrels and a modest little area to taste the wines.  Not here.

For a domaine that makes some "fancy" wines, notice the cars are not particularly fancy...

The domaine is comprised of approximately 21 hectares and they have some prime vineyards in Vosne-Romanée with holdings in premier cru and grand cru sites.

The new cellars are immaculate and the wines are a delight if you appreciate clean, fruity aromas and flavors and a healthy dose of sweet oak.

Bernard's son Vincent is now at the helm of the domaine.

Yes...there's a piano in their upscale tasting room.

Vincent, after pouring all the wines, including the Grand Crus, sat down and tickled the ivories.

This was remarkable...Monsieur Gros plays some exceptional jazz piano!

In July of 2020 we opened two delicious reds from Gros Frère...

One is called Chemin des Moines de Vergy and it's from a few patches of vines recently cobbled together by the Gros family.  It's in a location near some top Grand Cru sites but was apparently abandoned for many years as far as vineyards go.  They planted about 3.8 hectares of Pinot Noir and they vinified their first wine in 2017.  It's quite good but we paired it with their 2017 Vosne-Romanée which over-shadowed it by a bit. 
As these are roughly the same price, we opted to bring in the Vosne-Romanée, though we probably should splurge and grab a few bottles of the Chemin des Moines de Vergy just for kicks.

The 2017 Vosne-Romanée displays bright cherry fruit notes and a mild wood spice.  It's delicious to drink in its youth and we are delighted to see their wines return to form after the difficult 2016 vintage (where their wines were decidedly jammy in character).

Currently in Stock:  2017 GROS FRERES VOSNE-ROMANÉE  Sale $79.99

 

 

 

 

 

 

DOMAINE DUJAC

The Dujac domaine is one of the real leaders in Burgundy and it's Jacques Seysses who's been a bit of a pioneer in winemaking.  I'm not sure, though, that he'd actually take credit for any sort of real innovations.  But Seysses learned the business of winemaking quickly and set about constantly improving his work.

Louis Seysses, Jacques' father, was a gourmand and routinely bought good Burgundy.  He'd visit estates such as that of Ramonet or the Domaine de la Romanée Conti in search of wine for the cellar.  The elder Seysses was also involved in some sort of gourmet group and this gang dined at the best Parisian restaurants and enjoyed top French wines.

Dad owned a company called Biscuits Belin and Jacques, after working in banking for a few years, came back to the family business.  Louis Seysses also owned a share of the Domaine de la Pousse d'Or and Jacques spent two years learning the wine business from the late Gerard Potel. This proved far more fascinating and satisfying to Monsieur Seysses and when his pop sold Belin to Nabisco, he bought a small estate in Morey-Saint-Denis called Domaine Graillet.  It was soon renamed "Domaine Dujac" (du Jacques, you see?) and the rest is history.

There's even quite the local angle as Jacques Seysses married a young lady who grew up in Hillsborough!  I met her parents a few times way back when...Mom was especially a character and we had a nice chat about the state of the universe and cosmicity.

Over the years the domaine has grown.  They make some outstanding wines, from basic Morey-Saint-Denis to grand cru appellations such as Clos-Saint-Denis and Clos-de-la-Roche, amongst others.  

We had a particularly amusing visit many years ago...I was with some American friends who were looking forward to 'vacation,' while I was looking forward to visiting wineries.  We'd spent a few weeks in cellars and were soon to be boarding a boat for a week on a canal, eating, drinking and relaxing.  Mrs. Seysses asked what we wanted to taste.  Of course, I'm interested to taste EVERYTHING.  She didn't think my delicate palate was capable, so we hop-scotched around the cellar.  Of course, we don't "drink," we "taste" and spit.  

Rosalind had a couple of receptacles, one for spitting and one to return un-consumed "tastes."  I think she intended to use the latter container for cooking wine.
Until my friend Jesper made the horrible faux pas of spitting into the container of what was to be vin de cuisine!  Poor Mrs. Seysses was apoplectic at that time and our departure could come none-too-quickly, I'm sure.

Today son Jeremy is quite active in the family business.  And, like his father, the young Seysses married an American woman (whose family has a vineyard and winery in the Napa Valley).

 

The red wines of Dujac are can be extremely charming, beautifully-balanced and worthy of the descriptor "seductive."  When you catch a bottle at the right moment, Dujac's can be some of the most memorable and haunting.  We had such an experience recently--I brought a bottle of the premier cru Morey-Saint-Denis from the 2004 vintage to a dinner.  It stopped everyone from talking for a moment with a "Wow...what's this???!!!"  We shared a taste with the young lady waiting on our table and she was so thrilled she didn't nail us for the usual corkage fee!

 

We periodically have some Dujac bottles for sale, since we can't afford to drink our entire allocation.

 

 

Currently in stock:  2004 Morey Saint Denis 1er Cru  Sold Out

CHÂTEAU DE LA TOUR

This estate is now being run by François Labet and its holdings amount to 6.5 hectares of prime location vines within the grand cru Clos de Vougeot vineyard.  (There are about 80 vineyard owners and the average holding is something close to 2.5 hectares.)

Major changes have taken place over the past decade, or so.  First, the vineyards are farmed organically.  Labet also prunes more severely than had been done years ago.

Two cuvées are being made, the normal bottling along with an old vines wine.

The percentage of new oak is dependant upon the quality of the vintage and the level of wood the wine can handle.  

We had initially  been impressed with the 2001 vintage and really delighted with the showy, more forward 2002 vintage.  This was a delicious wine, having lots of dark cherry fruit and a delightfully sweet fragrance from the wood.  The wine is mildly tannic, but certainly approachable now.  It was one of our most showy Burgundies and certainly on a level of interest alongside the wines of DRC.

We've had a number of vintages since then...currently their 2009.

There's the 2009 Clos Vougeot "regular" bottling.   This comes from 50+ year old vines and was matured in 50% new oak.  It's showy and delicious already and it'll develop into a marvelous "old" wine one day.  But it's a very showy young wine today and certainly easy to appreciate in its youth.  You'll find lots of dark berry notes and a supporting amount of oak.  There's a modestly tannic element here but the rich texture seems to balance it, affording one the possibility of enjoying this now.
On the other hand, if you can give this some time in the cellar, you'll be handsomely rewarded.

 

Over the past decade the importer gave up working with this domaine as the price increases were stratospheric.  We see the wines with a new distribution company and these are expensive, going for about $300 a bottle for the Clos Vougeot.  

Stay tuned, though...we will try some of their entry level bottles...

Currently in stock:  2009 Château de La Tour Clos Vougeot  Sold Out

DOMAINE JEAN GRIVOT

The Grivot family can trace its roots back to the Jura region in the something like the 1600s, but they've been a fixture in Burgundy since the end of the 1700s.

Today the domaine is run by Etienne Grivot and he makes fairly "old school" Burgundies which are elegant and well-structured.  His Grandfather, Gaston Grivot, was amongst the first of the artisan domaines to bottle their own wine back in the era just following World War I.

Gaston's son is Jean Grivot and he still assists his son Etienne in the family enterprise.  Much has changed over the past couple of decades.  At one time they enlisted the services of a consultant named Guy Accad who sparked some controversy years ago:  some people felt many of the wines made using Accad's techniques lacked "Burgundy character."  

Grivot parted company with Accad in 1993, or so, and his wines today really focus nicely on the particular appellation or "terroir," if you will.  If you're a fan of lavishly oaked, sweetly-scented Burgundies, Grivot's wines probably are not for you.

I often buy a bottle of a couple of different Grivot wines each vintage for "research" purposes...From the 2009 we found their Nuits-Saint-Georges to be a nicely soulful bottle of Burgundy.  


This is a wine to look for, it seems to me, in reasonably warm vintages.  

The vineyard parcel comprises around half a hectare and it's at the northern end of Nuits-St-Georges.  Grivot says the wine would likely be a Premier Cru except that it faces north-east.  This, though, means longer "hang time" is required to produce a good wine and in a vintage such as 2009, Grivot nailed it beautifully.

Usually Grivot's wines are a bit muscle-bound in their youth and a bit unyielding.  In 2009 the wine is quite pleasurable at a fairly young stage (2013) and we know it's going to continue to evolve with more time in the bottle.

It captures the character of Burgundy beautifully and it's currently a bit more 'open' than most vintages at 3+ to 4 years of age.

 

 

Currently in stock:  2009 JEAN GRIVOT "NUITS-SAINT-GEORGES" Les Charmois Sold Out

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