Clos de la Roche
Grand Cru 2019
This wine’s name alone makes one almost forget that it hails from one of the most famous Grand Cru villages: Morey-Saint-Denis.
Origin
Nestled between Gevrey-Chambertin and Chambolle-Musigny, Morey-Saint-Denis produces five Grands Crus.
Located at the north of the commune, Clos de la Roche takes its name from a boulder that the Celts used for their rituals. Lying adjacent to the Latricières-Chambertin vineyard, it produces Morey’s most robust wines. This vineyard is difficult to work, with such stony soil that was considered to be a “backbreaker” by the growers of yesteryear. This hard, brown limestone soil yields very firm wines that are well-suited to ageing.
Viticulture
Grape variety: pinot noir
Soils: very limestone, some scree and shallow earth.
Orientation: East
Surface area under vine: 0.06 ha
Pruning: Guyot system
Yield: 38 hL/ha
Average age of the vines: 50 years old.
Vinification
Harvest date: 20 September 2019.
The grapes were handpicked. They were sorted a first time in the vineyard and again on the sorting table when they arrived at the winery.
At the winery: the grapes were completely destemmed but not crushed (they were left whole) and were gravity-fed into tanks. Total maceration of 20 days including 3 days cold (12 C). Fermentation used indigenous yeasts only (no additives such as enzymes or tannins were used). 3 punchings of the cap.
Ageing
Maturation: aged on the lees for 16 months with no racking using a proportion of 100% new French oak barrels.
Barrels: French oak barrels that had been toasted at low temperatures for a long time to impart a very delicate touch of oak to the wine.
Bottling
Bottling: The wine was bentonite fined and very gently filtered before being bottled using gravity in March 2021.
Number of bottles: 298.
Vintage
A legendary vintages?
According to Grégory Patriat, this second harvest at the Ursulines winery will go down as a legendary vintage just like 1969, 1979, 1999, 2009, and 2019, because the concentration in the wines is very high indeed. Years with drought and low yields are always great vintages in Burgundy. We had some new premier crus come online last year, with three in Chambolle-Musigny, one in Gevrey-Chambertin, and one in Nuits-Saint-Georges; Le Clos des Argillères. Furthermore, we revived our tradition of producing white wines in villages better known for their reds, with a white Fixin.
Ageing potential: 8 years and more.
Tasting notes
With its beautiful dark ruby color, this wine develops on the first nose a very floral bouquet, characteristic of this Grand Cru, then a complex aromatic palette of ripe red fruits and intense spices. The palate, which is rather flexible, reveals a beautiful richness. This wine can be slightly tannic in its youth but will soften over the years.
