Tasted with Jonathan Buisson on the hill of Mont Brouilly, 16 March 2022.
Domaine Les Roches Bleues
961 Route du Mont Brouilly
69460 Odenas
Tel: +33 4 74 03 43 11
www.domainelesrochesbleues.com
I tasted with Jonathan Buisson who is here since 2017, a domaine that passed to his wife, Chloe and her brother when their parents retired – they both work at the domaine too.
Chloe’s grandfather started as a metayeur of Château Pierreux but opted to work for himself, initially with 4 hectares of vines here where the domaine sits in the climat of Brulié, later taking on the vines of a neighbour – so now the domaine amounts to 13 hectares. There are good, deep, cellars here, dating from the 1970s – dynamited out from the bluestone hillside – their grandfather did it all – filling the space with large foudres for elevage – 35-62 hectolitres in capacity.
Jonathan studied in Davayé. 2019 was his first vintage, working for a time with Frédéric Berne, before coming, here, to the family domaine. Their first vintage represented 3 hectares of vines, Chloe’s parents kept 6, so that it would be an easier start for the next generation – but since 2020 they have the whole 13 ha. Older vintages from the previous generation are still available to buy for visitors.
They have started on the road of conversion to organic in their vines and completely revamped their market-facing presence with new labels and bottling individual parcels. For the moment, they mainly export their wines. There are no added yeasts here and Jonathan explains the approach: “I like gluggable wines but I don’t want to fall into the category of only making that type of wine – if the potential is in the soil and the grapes to make some great wines – then that’s what I want to achieve. All the tanks are thermo-regulated and I don’t go higher than 24° I’m not an ayatollah of zero sulfur either but I leave the door open for the most natural, most stable wine that I can make.”
The wines…
Impressive wines, yet the structure of the wines is a little at odds with the modern approach to labelling etcetera – I’m expecting accessibility – and whilst the quality within is fine, all will benefit from 12+ months in the cellar. Then you will be rewarded!
We started with some 2021s bottled towards the end of February:
2021 Brouilly, La Croquant
An assembly of grapes from pink granite soils – this with all tank elevage.
Modest depth of colour. An airy red-fruit nose that’s faintly saline. Wide over the palate, growing in intensity and minerality – that’s a wine that gets better and better in the mouth – a with fine length.
2021 Brouilly Les Trois Loups
Young vines facing the domaine – 10-years-old – direction Pierreux with a blend of soil types. Here with foudre elevage, but relatively short.
A tighter nose – again with red fruit. Wider and showing a little more structure, though the tannin has very little grain. Again a wine that burst more into life as you close in on the finish. A really lovely finish.
2021 Côte de Brouilly, La Baraquée
Also from pink granite but from a single parcel
A little more colour – it was a longer maceration for this. I find a little more perfume to this red fruit. More concentration and holding a good intensity right through the finish. A little more serious intent here.
2019! Brouilly, Les Trois Loups
The first single parcel wine of the domaine
Broader and deeper nose, a little development vs the 21s. Rounder in the mouth with a little development to the flavours and slightly more cooked fruit – but attractive and certainly very tasty!
The 2020s:
2020 Brouilly, La Croquant
A rounder, fuller, riper fruit impression. Hmm, that’s very nice over the palate, melting its mineral flavour over the palate – really nice clarity to this flavour. Absolutely delicious – very good wine!
2020 Côte de Brouilly, La Baraquée
Bottled in April, 100% foudre elevage.
Broad, more floral nose. Darker fruit and showing its structure more too – but a fine intensity – this is a wine for keeping a little while – maybe a year-or-so. Like all these a wine that finishes really well, just showing the structure more at the end.
2020 Brouilly, Les Trois Loups
14 months of elevage – bottled in November.
A more compact nose yet still showing red fruit and with fine clarity. Supple, a texture of velour the tannin adding some dryness but not really any grain. The fruit is pure and generous – delicious – but keep this back for a little while too.
2020 Brouilly Pierreux
Not long bottled – old vines here with longer elevage – there’s a little barrel and tank elevage in here too.
A silky nose but like the last, not fully expressive. Broad over the palate, structured like the last two but again hardly any grain, just some tannic dryness. The fruit showing a slightly different, modestly roast, flavour profile. Another very good wine and another that needs some cellar time…