2019 Mazy-Chambertin Grand Cru

A large crane loomed over Domaine Armand Rousseau. Winemaker Cyrielle Rousseau told me that they are building a new winery and enlarging the barrel cellar, though they must see if the indigenous yeast will migrate into the new and initially sterile surroundings. Unlike other producers, Rousseau told me that they had no problem with flowering in 2019 and that yields were normal at around 30-35hl/ha when they commenced picking on 12 September. “I never think about how the wines will be,” she told me. “I just come down after the following harvest and just see how they are without any preconceptions.”

Unfortunately the Clos Saint-Jacques had warning of my arrival and shut down just hours before. Others were singing, including an ethereal Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze that seemed to show a little more substance than the Chambertin, a Ruchottes-Chambertin that was a paradigm of transparency and a heavenly Mazy-Chambertin. These are not powerful wines and offer more red-coloured fruit than say, Dugat-Py, I tasted directly before.