Richard Rottiers – 2015

9.3.2017billn

Tasted in Romanèche-Thorins with Richard Rottiers, 06 February 2017.

Domaine Richard Rottiers
La Sambinerie
71570 Romanèche-Thorins
Tel: +33 6 63 38 16 35
www.domainerichardrottiers.com

Richard is soon to become much busier, his mother, Lyne Marchive, is soon to retire from running Domaine des Malandes in Chabis. “I’m lucky that Guénolé Breteaudeau can handle everything when I’m not there,” says Richard.

Being centred on Moulin à Vent and the bordering Beaujolais villages vines, Richard was one of the most badly affected by the hail in 2016, really, if it wasn’t for the insurance – which pays for purchases that might go some way to offset losses – he would have virtually nothing in 2016:

Richard on 2016:
80% of the crop was lost to hail on the 24 June – for what remained, the the quality is there – but it was catastrophic for volume. Unfortunately, It’s very hard to do the pruning as some of the wood is so badly damaged. I bought some grapes with the insurance money from friends who work well, but not in bio so I took it off the label, my own vines in the Beaujolais Villages keeps the bio label.

Certainly given his dearth of bottles to sell, I understand his sentiment – “Using a horse to plough is very nice, but it’s too expensive for the wines at €60 per hour…

The wines…

Richard only made 27 hl/ha so he has long since sold out of 2015.

2016 Moulin à Vent
12hl/ha, destemmed all in barrel elevage.
A hint of herb but more and more there’s a prettier floral note coming through – nice. Supple, nice flavour, this rolls very well over the palate. Finishing well this is nice wine – still you should wait, but in this case you don’t need to!

2016 Brouilly
Still in barrel. This time not destemmed, ‘just a little porriture to remove, then a classic Beaujolais fermentation.’
Hmm, this has a very nice nose. Totally different, a little gas, but the flavour arrives in waves and waves. This is very tasty stuff. Yum!

2015 Moulin à Vent
Deep, wide, a fine nose, floral too. Layered, fresh flavour. Big, fresh, lots of action, nicely saline on the finish. This is excellent.

2015 Beaujolais Villages La Sambinière
Wide fresh, modest depth, really a very attractive nose. Supple, mouth-watering, saline, layered. This has a certain austerity, but I find its combination of freshness and saline minerality really super – this is very worth your time, persistent too!

2015 Moulin à Vent Dernier Souffle
Here granite soil. Very ripe and fragile grapes in 2015.
Ooh, not too massive but an attractive roundness. Hmm, fresh a wine of line, mouth-melting flavours, here with a growth of tannin – but not too much. 2015 often needs a touch of austerity, and this wine has it. Very yum!

2015 Moulin à Vent Champ de Cour
1 month extraction on whole clusters with grill.
Fresh, floral, pretty fresh fruit. Lots of volume, but also lots of mouth-watering fresh flavour. This is very young, evidenced by the tannin. But lots of complexity of finishing flavour – super young and bravo!

Richard started in Beaujolais 10 years ago, so:

2007 Moulin à Vent
Assembly of all parcels in first year.
Almost a hint smoky, just beginning to show the first accent of maturity. Wide, fresh, complex. A nice growing line of intensity. Delicious yet young. Drink – enjoy! It’s a good wine.

2015 Beaujolais Villages Blanc
From Romanèche. Alcoholic fermentation in barrel, malo blocked – only 30% done
A deep nose but vibrant, a heavy floral scent too. Rather fresh and mineral.

Agree? Disagree? Anything you'd like to add?

Burgundy Report

Translate »

You are using an outdated browser. Please update your browser to view this website correctly: https://browsehappy.com/;