2021 Bourgogne Côte d'Or

I am unsure if winemaker Jean-Pierre Roty ever takes off his baseball cap. Do send me a postcard if you’ve ever spotted him without his signature accoutrement. In a change to regular programming, since Roty released their wines a year behind, I saw little point in doubling the size of an already large tasting. So, this time, I focused on the bottled 2021s that will hit the shelves early next year, and henceforth, I will continue thus. It means I could examine the wines at a more leisurely pace - important because they tend to respond to modest aeration, although both of us had to pause somewhere around the Marsannay Villages. “Look at that!” Roty tells me, pointing at the sky. A shooting star? A UFO? No, it was what I call a “stunt snail,” slowly making his way across a windowpane. We admired his death-defying feat before he said a few words about the vintage. “It was a year of the vigneron,” Roty opines. “[In 2021] You had to be vigilant in the vineyard; otherwise, you would have problems. We have a homogenous quality throughout the range, though qualities are just over half the average, depending on the vineyard. We began the picking on September 21. The Village Crus are aged in 30% to 60% new oak, Fonteny at 80% and 100% for the Grand Crus. They will be bottled end of March, beginning of April next year.”

These wines can taste a little brutish out of barrel, and they need bottle age to polymerize the tannins and entertain drinkability. But already, some of Roty’s 2021s show wonderful Pinoté: at the entry-level, a crunchy Bourgogne Côte d’Or Pressonier, Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Prieur-Bas, Marsannay Boivin, for example. “Which is the best of the three Grand Crus?” Roty enquires. Well, the most seductive is the wonderful Griotte-Chambertin, which has immense purity and sophistication. The more intellectual, however, is Charmes Chambertin Très Vieilles Vignes, which for once is no exaggeration since they were the first planted after phylloxera in 1881 and 1882. It’s a beast that will be tamed by time and could evolve into a marvelous wine. Also, do check out his delicious whites and definitely his very capable Marsannay Rosé.