1999 Marsannay Les Ouzeloy

Philippe Roty, increasingly taking over responsibility for the family domain, has made a number of modifications here in recent years. Beginning in 1999, he has carried out a green harvest in those vines that would otherwise produce full crop loads. In August of 2001, he pulled leaves on the north side of all of the domain vines in order to aerate the fruit. And beginning in 2000, he has used barrels from five sources (previously the Roty wines were aged entirely in barrels made by Rousseau in nearby Brochon). Roty told me that the 2000s generally have slightly higher acidity and slightly less ripe tannins than the '99s, but that a more substantial green harvest enabled the family to produce a number of wines that are every bit as concentrated as the '99s. The '99s, which showed very well from barrel a year ago, have turned out to be delicious wines, although the cru bottlings will require patience.

"The '98s are higher in acidity but likely to be long-lived," Philippe Roty told me, "while the '99s are very agreeable wines, to drink before the '98s." Philippe told me that the estate uses a device that is able to gently crush even the smaller berries, which facilitates very thorough fermentations. The finished wines, says Roty, routinely carry less than one gram per liter residual sugar. For wine lovers who are unable to find this domain cru bottlings from Gevrey-Chambertin, the village wines, including those from Marsannay, routinely outperform most premier crus from the northern Cote de Nuits. And they are reasonably priced.