2017 Marsannay Boivin

Over 40 bottles were regimented in two rows when I called in on a bitterly cold morning to taste through the 2017 and 2018 vintages with Pierre-Jean Roty. "I started the harvest on 8 September and finished eight days later," he told me, as maman placed a plate of her famous gougeres in front of me (sadly they are "interdict" under my strict new diet. "There are around 70 person during the harvest with around 50 people in the vineyard," Roty continued. He is adamant that waiting to pick was crucial and remarked how fellow winemakers were sounding the "harvest klaxon" (my term, not his) to expedite the harvest. He decided to sit tight as he did not feel the bunches had achieved the desired phenolic maturity. As usual, all the range is de-stemmed and indeed, we exchanged views on the pluses and minuses of whole bunch vinification. Personally, I would be quite interested to see how some of his Grand Crus would show with say, 20-30% stem addition. These are wines that are always distinctive in style, perhaps more modern in style for some palate with proportionately more black fruit compared to the likes of say, Rousseau or Duroché. In order words, these are not shy or retiring wallflowers! That said, I love the exuberance of Roty’s range of terroir-specific Marsannays that fly the flag for the appelation and his Grand Crus can be exceptional ONLY if they are given a decade to mature in bottle.

Pierre-Jean Roty was in sparkling form when I called in at the winery in Gevrey-Chambertin, his mum providing her “100-point” gougeres as usual. I nibbled only a couple as I had dinner that evening. Along with Sylvain Pataille, Roty is my go-to producer for excellent Marsannays, though recent vintages have been acutely affected by frost, to the extent that in 2016, many single-vineyard bottlings were either destroyed entirely or blended into multi-vineyard cuvées. The 2017 vintage sees their welcome return, and they offer great value if your wallet does not stretch wide enough for Roty’s Grand Cru offerings. “It was easier than in 2016,” Pierre-Jean Roty told me. “We had a little hydric stress but our techniques in the vineyard meant the vines did not suffer. We did not de-leaf at all during the season but we green harvested at the end of July and then again at the end of August [like Domaine d’Eugénie] to ensure that we had a uniform maturation of bunches. We started picking on September 12 and over the following eight days. Very little sorting was necessary and we cropped at about 46hl/ha. The whites came in at around 13.5°, and 12.8° to 13.5° for the reds, with just a small amount of chaptalisation to extend the fermentation and gain more substance. The pH was very good and the colour was extracted easily. Overall, it was much easier than in 2016 and it was a vintage of quantity and quality. You might call it a combination of 2009 and 2014.”

I have tasted Roty’s wines for almost two decades now. The family has suffered more than their fair share of tragedy, not least the untimely passing of Philippe Roty at 46. But Pierre-Jean, the 11th generation of the Roty family, stepped into the breach and has done an excellent job of keeping the domaine moving forward whilst never forgetting everything that Philippe taught him. As usual, these wines are quite bold and forward in style, intense and packed full of fruit, with grip and girth. Yet Pierre-Jean manages to imbue them with countervailing freshness and vitality that ensures that many will repay cellaring. My picks include a stunning Côtes de Nuits-Village that must surely offer unbeatable value once released, a superb Marsannay Les Ouzeloy and a very classy Gevrey Fonteny; amongst the Grand Crus, as I opined to Pierre-Jean at the time, it is not the Charmes-Chambertin that caught my eye but the Griotte-Chambertin.