Tasted in Gevrey-Chambertin with Nicolas Rossignol, 29 November 2016.

Domaine Rossignol-Trapet
4 Rue de la Petite Issue
21220 Gevrey-Chambertin
Tel: +33 3 80 51 87 26
www.rossignol-trapet.com

Nicolas on 2016:
“Yields were little more than 50% across the whole domaine – more like 60% for grand crus.”

Nicolas on 2015:
“We had a good harvest in 2015, almost everything provided decent yields – the exceptions were Latricières and Chambertin. It wasn’t an ‘année vigneron‘ because just about everything was easy in 2015.”

The wines…

No pigeage, just pumping over in this vintage, with 15-17 days of cuvaison. Apart from the Beaune, which had been racked, we tasted from barrel. Maybe January or February before the first bottling. The grand crus will probably be ready for bottling in April.

At least for this tasting, these are certainly not the most powerful Gevreys that you can find in 2015, but they have really good drive and fine, long lines of flavour. Some clearly need longer elevage to ‘iron-out’ their shape, but that is already the plan. Importantly, the personalities are all individual and I’m sure that all of these will be very worthwhile bottles…

2015 Beaune 1er Teurons
From the high slopes near Cras, ‘the wine’s more like a Cras than a Teurons!’
Big and deep, very aromatic wine. Round, growing flavour intensity, long, long, long… This is tasty wine!

2015 Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles-Vignes
Between 45-75 years from various parcels in 3 sectors.
A little vibration of oak on the nose. Wide, some muscle, very nice depth of faintly salted fruit flavour. This is is long and even a little mineral finishing. Excellent, but will need a little patience.

2015 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos Prieur
A fresh, faintly oaked nose, with tighter depth. Wide, saline, and very slowly lingering. Like the VV this is showing very young, but the parts are excellent!

2015 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Petit Chapelle
Richer, deeper soil with more clay than the last wine. Since 2003, no pigeage with this wine.
A little more depth of aroma here, still some oak but a fine complexity. Rounder, very nice growing intensity of fine complex flavour. This is showing much more open today. Slowly fading without an obvious oak inflection. Super! And very long!

2015 Latricières-Chambertin
Quite a cold area under the forest so normally the last parcel to be harvested. 0.75 hectares right in the centre of the vineyard.
Vibrant dark nose, more mineral than the last. Round, muscled but lithe and with beautifully opening flavours the finish is modest intensity but hold tenaciously. Very yum!

2015 Chapelle-Chambertin
For us a warmer, more sunny area, closer to the rock. Only about 40cm of soil before the rock, but the vines are old – from the 1920s – and didn’t suffer from the dryness. We are only domaine with vines in both Gemeaux and Les Chapelle, and the soils are different – the soil is much deeper in Gemeaux.
More depth, really a beautiful depth of dark red fruit. A modest tannin and waves of flavour slowly melting over the palate. Very involving wine – super.