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Domaine Marc Roy-Gevrey-Chambertin, Domaine Dujac, Confuron-Cotetidot,
Labet Clos Vougeot
EVEN MORE RED
BURGUNDY
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Alexandrine Roy and her parents of the Domaine Marc Roy.
2011
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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.
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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.
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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.
The 2008, though, was aged entirely in new oak and yet you'll be
hard-pressed to determine this on sniffing and sipping.
Alexandrine says "I want fine tannins and balance in my wine. I
like the wine to show well in its youth." explaining how the 2008 can
"handle the wood."
"I trust my grapes." she says.
The 2008 wine is delicious now, relatively young,
but we suspect it will develop additional complexity with 5-10 more years of
bottle aging.
Currently in stock: 2008 DOMAINE MARC ROY Gevrey-Chambertin
"Vieilles Vignes" SALE $49.99
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PIERRE DAMOY
 Young
Pierre Damoy took over for his uncle in the early 1990s and is dedicated to
bringing the reputation of this property to a high level. With some
eleven hectares of vineyards, Damoy first set about the viticulture, pruning
more severely and reducing crop yields. Next he has radically improved
the cellar, getting rid of old and poor cooperage. We had a Chambertin
Clos de Bèze 1998 in a tasting and I ranked the wine as my
favorite.
Succeeding vintages demonstrate this fellow has a handle on making good
Burgundy. The 1999 was outstanding, while the 2000 was very
good.
A bottle of Damoy's 2001 Gevrey-Chambertin from his "home"
vineyard, "Clos Tamisot," has made periodic appearances on my
dinner table. The 2001 is youthful and probably needs more time to
blossom. Still...very fine.
The 2005 is delicious. It shows the richness of the vintage, of course
and it's terribly charming, despite being so young. We bought a bottle
from the importer and, while it carries a premium price tag, the quality if
remarkably good. It's close to "premier" or "grand
cru" quality. Nicely oaked, too.
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Currently in stock: 2001 Gevrey-Chambertin "Clos Tamisot" $79.99
2005 Gevrey-Chambertin "Clos Tamisot" Sold Out
 The
current label design...
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DOMAINE CONFURON-COTETIDOT
 The
Confuron family (Mom is the Cotetidot) is firmly ensconced in the Burgundy
wine scene.
The family has holdings in numerous locations and it's one of
the rare domaine which makes wines from Nuits-St. Georges,
Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Romanée and Chambolle-Musigny.
The Confuron sons, in addition to handling the vines and wines of this
property, are associated with other wineries in Burgundy. Yves
Confuron is the regisseur of the Pommard estate, the Domaine de
Courcel. Jean-Pierre Confuron keeps busy with assignments at the
Château de la Tour and the Chanson firm.
We have a rather remarkable "little" wine from this property...an
old-time, very traditional red called "Bourgogne
Passetoutgrain." This appellation came into being back in 1937,
so, while it may be new to you, it's not new to old-timers.
The wine must be, at least, one-third of Pinot Noir and the rest is
Gamay. While it's not a thoroughbred, it is thoroughly
delicious! In fact, we tasted a bottle recently alongside some far
more noble appellations and this was hardly in the shadows of those more
prestigious bottles.
It is exceptional for immediate drinking and if you're preparing a Bœuf Bourguignon, this will be a delicious and sensibly-priced
accompaniment. We suggest serving it at cool cellar temp.-
- Currently in stock: 2009 CONFURON-COTETIDOT Bourgogne
Passetoutgrain $16.99
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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!
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- We periodically have some Dujac bottles for sale, since we can't afford to
drink our entire allocation.
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- Currently in stock: 2004 Morey Saint Denis 1er Cru $119.99
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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 have been impressed with the 2001 vintage and really delighted with the
showy, more forward 2002 vintage. This is 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.
Currently in stock, we have two bottlings from 2004. Both are
remarkably fine.
There's the 2004 Clos Vougeot "regular" bottling. This
comes from 45 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.
The 2004 Clos Vougeot "Vieilles Vignes" comes from 75 year old
vines and it sees only brand new oak. What a profound and showy wine
this is! Someone tasting this and not finding it to their taste is
someone who should not be drinking Burgundy. Period. It's
expensive, but it's grand.
Currently in stock: 2004 Château de La Tour Clos Vougeot
$119.99
2004 Château de La Tour Clos Vougeot "Vieilles Vignes"
$134.99
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