2023 Saint-Romain Sous Le Château

Franck et Frédérick Buisson are a dynamic duo and have rapidly become stars of Saint-Romain, the go-to appellation for quality at reasonable prices. Since 2008, they have overseen the 20-hectare certified organic estate.

“We started picking the whites around September 15 with vines on the mid-slope,” Franck Buisson tells me. “We had large volumes, so we alternated the picking between the colors. We did a small maceration on the whites to gain extract. The reds were all picked around September 19, later than many other growers. We had good yields, and it was quite warm in early September, so we waited for maturity to achieve around 13.5% natural alcohol. The problem in Saint-Romain is that it is often picked too early. It was important to sort because of ‘stink bugs’ [punaise] and acid rot [pourriture acide], so we used a vibrating and a regular sorting table where we could smell all the bunches. A cold room was used to store fruit for two days, though usually, we needed just one. We used 30% whole bunch across the [red] cuvées, and since 2022, we have been using some sulfites before bottling. We don’t like to be dogmatic about using sulfur or not.”

Looking for terrific value at reasonable prices? Step this way. I appreciate both colors from this estate, and their Corton-Charlemagne ranks amongst one of the best that I met. That said, what I really admire are the Saint-Romains, especially the Sous le Château and Sous le Velle cuvées, which represent outstanding value. This is an estate that is really going places.