Tasted in this hidden valley, Les Balloquets, under Mont Brouilly (right) with Robert Perroud, 09 May 2019.
Domaine Robert Perroud
Les Balloquets
69460 Odenas
Tel: +33 4 74 04 35 63
www.robert-perroud.com
Robert proudly says that he is the 7th generation of his family associated with the vines in this area – since 1789! This is a domaine of 15 hectares – mostly of Brouilly – but also with 2 hectares of Côte de Brouilly and some Beaujolais Villages in both colours too.
The domaine is hidden away in the climat of Les Balloquets, looking towards Mont Brouilly – here are steep slopes too – but where the terrain allows, Robert has planted a lot around here with a more modern, Côte d’Or style of training (right) – but the vines are ploughed and the harvesting is always by hand.
Robert on 2017:
“It was a year that was quite easy from the cycle of the vine – it was dry though – like in 2018. We harvested early, starting at the beginning of September, but with a modest harvest volume, a few less grapes from flowering but also not so much juice – the grapes looked great – the whites too – where I only had 25hl/ha – but I think they have better balance than 2015 for example. Hot summers are becoming the norm so I think we are getting better at managing that – it takes a bigger team to harvest, faster, so the degrees don’t get too high. I think we extract less too – because everything extracts so well on its own with the higher degrees – to compare, I’m sure we extracted too much in 2005 and made harder wines because of that.
“I use 50kg cases for the harvest. The whole clusters, cut by hand, go into the tank and for 8 days of the 10-day maceration, I did nothing – of course, I was watching and tasting, but I think that’s the main difference today. I want the wine as close to nature as possible – but without deviations! We harvest mainly in the mornings to make sure the grapes aren’t too warm and last year, for instance, I needed no heating or cooling – but I’m ready if it’s required – but I like the mark of the vintage so I’m not cooling everything each year to 12° prior to fermentation.”
I liked the following observation from Robert: “The tonicity of the wine is the pH, the total acidity is how acid the wine tastes.”
Robert chooses to make his elevage on fine lees, part in cement, part in old foudres – “9 years from 10 the elevage is without added sulfur” he says, all that’s added is about 30 mg for the bottling. All his production is commercialised in bottle, his sales specialised in the cavistes and restaurants of France – there is export, but most of his production is destined for the home market. That’s a shame for everybody else!
The wines.
A lovely man with great wines – even the white! A really great address!
2017 Brouilly L’Enfer de Balloquets
Biggest cuvée which is a blend of multiple parcels – l’Enfer refers to the heat that can be generated in this valley…
Good depth of colour. A very wide, quite fresh, a little graphite vibration, but a silkily cushioned nose. Fresh, a wine of drive and energy, such fine and ripe tannin as to still be silky, a suggestion of reduction but nothing more. Mouth-watering, quite mineral finishing.
Two parcels planted in ’66. From the west of the hill with a narrow band of blue clay that the roots can go through but it’s harder for the water to penetrate – ‘so it’s never too wet, but the vines never suffer from the drought.’
Plenty of colour. More width of open, red fruit but also floral aromas. Wide, supple – super freshness. A little grain of ripe tannin, wide, quite dark-red fruited but there’s a bubbling, delicious energy here – bravo – a finish that just keeps getting wider and wider!
A small and hot half-hectare parcel, next to Thivin – worked by horse. ‘I don’t want too big, but it’s a bit of sport and worked the same way as my father.’ Barrel elevage with 6-8-year-old barrels then 5 months in foudre. Bottled at the end of March, but he’s still selling 2016, so this won’t be on sale much before the end of the year.
A narrower but fine nose – faintly floral. Ooh, that’s very different – mineral, driving, fresh – is this what gamay would taste like planted in Chablis? Slowly opening over the palate, with floral anecdotes – ooh that’s great finishing but a little tight to start – I love this – but it’s far from an easy glou, glou wine. Bravo – properly intellectual wine!
70-year-old vines, plenty of water sources in this area. The same vinification and elevage as the last wine.
Also a fine, fresh, slightly narrow nose but here with darker fruit, but this grows with more fruity and floral energy. Much wider, but still a mineral style of fruit – very fine tannin grain – open, fine fruit and fresh flavour of clarity, a faint complexity of spice – like all before, no overt oak to see. Also a great wine.
2017 Brouilly En Saburin Romain
18 months in barrel, the 9-year-old parcel with the Côte d’Or-style palissage (pictured behind Robert). This still in foudre, it will be bottled at the end of the month.
A little less colour. Red-fruited, some florals too – not a big nose, but one of open invitation. Fresh, driving – the most energy – this is dynamic wine. A touch of astringency but not much and long – this is super – excellent wine!
2016 Brouilly En Saburin Romain
Nicely presented, red-wax topped.
Almost a little darker colour than the 2017. Width, slightly pyrazine flowers on the nose, red fruit below. Drive, energy like the last, a little more tannin – but equally fine-grained. There’s a pyrazine complexity in the flavours too. Ooh, that’s a seriously great, wide, changing finish – a great finish – overall an excellent wine.
More colour again. Wide, not such a large nose but a width of almost chocolate notes – fainter red fruit below. Ooh – that’s a beautifully fresh, dynamic 2015. Plenty of sweetness but mouth-watering, moreish flavour. Plenty of tannin like the last, here with a hint of salinity. Bravo – this is entering a great window of drinkability. “The sun had done enough I wore velour gloves to work with these grapes!“