2017 Bourgogne Rouge

Though Rossignol’s new winery is located on the outskirts of Beaune, I continue associating this producer with Pommard, since Nicolas Rossignol has several holdings in this appellation, not to mention that his heart clearly lies here. He is garrulous, erudite and passionate when talking about wine, always armed with the insider’s gossip about what is really going on in Burgundy. More importantly, I rate him as a superb winemaker, and his wines have progressed since he relocated from the winery shared with his friend Benjamin Leroux.

“I started picking around September 5,” Rossignol told me. “Everything was perfect during the growing season. You just had to be careful about not leaving too many grapes in the vineyard and control the yields, so we took off some bunches. You can feel the terroirs in 2017. Generally, it will be a vintage that you can drink more quickly than others, except for a few wines like Les Epenots and Santenots. There is sweetness in these wines, though they are not heady. Here in this winery I have to manage 50 vats, but I never tired of tasting the 2017s, as the wines were so rich and deep, which was not the case in 2015.”

Now, this is a winemaker who deserves much higher status, and perhaps that is just a matter of time. Maybe if he had a couple of Grand Crus he would gain a higher profile. In the meantime, there are some absolute gems amongst his broad range of 2017s that focus on the Pommard-Volnay axis. Rossignol’s Pommard Les Epenots completely floored me with its precision and coiled-up energy; it is possibly the finest Pommard of the vintage. Les Chanlins, a lesser-known Pommard Premier Cru, had a propitious year and Rossignol’s comes highly recommended. Switching over to Volnay, two Premier Crus really stand out: Les Chevrets, Rossignol’s personal favourite, and also Les Fremiets. Most of Rossignol’s wines feel approachable and yet possess the substance to suggest they will mature nicely over the next couple of decades.