Clos de la Roche
Grand Cru 2020
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: 0.09 ha
Pruning: Guyot system
Yield: 33 hL/ha
Average age of the vines: 52 years old.
Vinification
Harvest date: 6 September 2020.
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 22 days including 4 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 15 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 January 2022.
Number of bottles: 255.
Vintage
Balanced and concentrated
The harvests happened back-to-front! They began with the reds ripening before the whites. The harvest was very disease-free but we had to eliminate sunburnt berries, especially in the case of the Pinot Noir vines as the Chardonnays had coped better with the heat. Quality was definitely good, but relatively low juice yields has resulted in Pinot Noirs with high colour and aromatic intensity. On the other hand, the Chardonnay vines produced adequate yields with a good balance of sugar and acidity. This optimal ripeness enabled us to harvest the red grapes in certain plots according to the ‘vendange entière’ approach, where stalks are fermented along with the grapes.
'Lots of lovely colour in the reds, with very high polyphenol content, firm tannins and excellent levels of acidity. Looks set to be a year with great cellaring potential. Summer fruit coulis notes definitely have the upper hand in this year’s vintage! The whites are nicely-balanced, but it’s too early to be more precise. Watch this space…’ Grégory Patriat.
Ageing potential: 10 years and more.
Awards
Le Nouveau Bettane + Desseauve 2023 - 91/100
Bourgogne Aujourd'hui Magazine - 14,5/20
Tasting notes
With its beautiful dark red color with violet reflections, this wine develops a very floral bouquet of violets at first, characteristic of this Grand Cru, then a complex aromatic palette of fresh black fruits. The palate is surprisingly fresh for this sunny vintage and makes one "salivate". A wine full of finesse!
