2021 Marsannay Blanc

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.

Having missed my annual tête-à-tête with winemaker Pierre-Jean Roty in his trademark baseball cap, it was high time I returned for what is a marathon tasting of the last two vintages, the 2021 from barrel and the bottled 2020s, over 40 wines. Roty tells me that he commenced picking on 22 September and harvested for seven days. It was one of their latest harvests in the last decade, although it was just half the normal volume due to the growing season. As usual, all these cuvées are completely de-stemmed. Wisely, I ask to commence with the 2021s because the 2020s are almost uniformly decadent, powerful, voluptuous wines that occasionally trip over into almost Port-like wines where it manifests Syrah-like notes. By contrast, whilst no doubt the 2021s are definitely some of the black-coloured, more concentrated, black-fruited and opulent iterations of the vintage, the coolness of the growing season puts a rein on some cuvées tendency for excess. These wines do require considerable cellaring. If you want a more immediate and transparent Marsannay, then head to Sylvain Pataille or Bruno Clair, but for wines with more substance and puissance, Roty’s wines will tick all your boxes.