Tasted in Meursault with Paul Delorme & Jean-Marc Roulot (pictured), 15 November, 2022.
Domaine Roulot
1 Rue Charles Giraud
21190 Meursault
Tel: +33 3 80 21 21 65
www.domaineroulot.fr
More reports with Domaine Roulot.
Paul on 2022:
“2022 – we can be happy with this – a correct volume like in 2020.“
Paul on 2021:
“The wines have just been racked into tank – there will be no bottling before the end of the year, possibly much later. We may trial a little longer stainless-steel elevage. Not all the cuvées will be sold in 2021 as there was a yield of only 18%! Nobody will be happy with their allocations – we will also will keep the Perrières back for later sale, like since 2018, and this year the Charmes too. About half of the harvest was already lost to the frost which, given the weather, gave the opportunity to mildew and oïdium – in some periods it wasn’t possible to get into the vines as it was so wet, so here was plenty of lost volume – you sprayed and then it was was washed off the following day. Of course, a severe triage was also required – our Tessons brought 3 beautiful barrels worth of fruit but also 2 that were less good – the grapes were more green and less gold. Only one barrel was kept for the Luchets – we had some similar issues in 2004… But in this vintage all our usual cuvées have been made – even if only a little for some – we had 130 empty barrels at the end of harvesting which we had to fill only with water and sulfur… Fortunately, we still have some the 2018s which were kept back just for restaurants but which weren’t bought because of covid closures…”
The team here are using jars of different materials plus some wine globes too for elevage – it’s all for testing at this stage – some without sulfur but, for now, they’ve not found something that really excites them…
The wines…
Small returns in terms of volume for this domaine in 2021 – but what wines – consider yourself lucky if you can find a few bottles…
“We fought for this vintage so we will really take our time with bottling – if a wine needs another month of elevage, it will get it:”
2021 Bourgogne Blanc
All in the commune of Meursault – 2 plots – but 5 hectares worth, some (normally!) sold in bulk but 20k bottles are produced in a normal vintage.
A very inviting sweetness here – round and yellow-fruited. A little gas but a fine mineral, a slightly floral width to this too. Holding very well with a slightly mineral, more than slightly floral finish. That’s a beauty for the label.
Mostly from Clos de la Baronne but also Crotots and a little Gruyaches plus, in recent vintages, from Sous la Velle
Finer, beautifully textured width – this has a beautiful ultra-fine-grained spice. Sitting absolutely beautifully on the palate it’s another wine that bounds forward with a beautiful floral ‘extra’ – that’s a great villages – I never previously met this style here before but I love it.
Planted by Jean-Marc’s father in 1968. At the top of the hill on the Auxey-Duresses side with a NE exposure – so a little on the colder side. Not much topsoil – 30-40cm only.
Another level of aromatic – the fine spice of the last but with an extra freshness of florals. Supple, mouthwatering, a little rounder in style but no less clarity or definition. Intense finishing – really – oh wow, practically strict – the florality on a lower order but clearly this wine is still a step up.
2021 Meursault Meix Chaveaux
Bottom of the hill this time with almost 1 metre of soil.
A nose that remains with (extra) fine spice but fewer floral attributes. Broad, a little more muscular but no less chiselled and with no less clarity. The finish a different shape – broad but holding. Simply an excellent, already gorgeous, wine here.
In the middle of the hill and almost between the previous two.
A similar style and shape of aromatic to the Meix but with a faint floral once more. Still plenty of CO2 at this stage. The perfect synthesis of the previous two wines but with an extra roundness to the middle architecture. A narrower finish, more haunting in style. Another simply excellent white, possibly great.
“Tillets – there is none, it was pulled out after 2015 harvest but is now replanted.”
It was Jean-Marc’s father who wrote ‘A Mon Plaisir…’ More east-facing with the same altitude as the Luchets
An airy nose, spiced and very fine textured with the return of some floral accents – but different. More direct and mineral but not too strict – open, dynamic, not too strict and with a really super finish – perhaps my favourite to drink today – bravo.
2021 Meursault 1er Porusot
There is a higher and lower section but the higher was replanted, so for a few vintages the grapes came only from the dessous section. 2021 is the first harvest that includes the younger vines too.
Broader, lots of perfumed freshness, faintly, nobly, reductive. Ooh, supple, melting, fluid wine here – melting over the palate then finishing on a floral perfume as the minerality fades. That’s a very approachable Poruzots today – really impressive – I expected more austerity.
This 1.3-hectare clos is a monopole of the domaine – 2011 was the first vintage, before that they had ‘simply’ Bouchères. Today, one-third of the vines are 25-30-years-old, the rest are over 45. The first vineyard to be harvested yet always with the highest degrees – 13.5° in 2021.
A middle width but what clarity and florality – that’s a simply great nose! Mouth-filling, melting, mouth-watering. The intensity slowly growing but not really becoming painful – but what persistence – wow wine – maybe my favourite still lies with the Tessons – but these last two will have much to say about that in the future – bravo!
These were the only 2021s for tasting today, but for the road:
2011 Meursault 1er Porusot
Depth, the aromas still fresh but starting to show some of the complexity of age. Fluid, pure wine, growing in larger ripples from the centre, some sucrosity – slowly fading. Growing in perfumed finishing complexity – ooh that’s a super finish!
2010 Meursault Vireuils
Rounder, almost truffled and nutty. Broad, depth of flavour here, really a vibrant wine, slightly floral but much more creamy in style – the onset of maturity here. The Poruzots is the cleaner here but this is rewardingly attractive – indeed delicious.