Tasted in Beaune with Nicolas Rossignol (& friend), 24 November 2020.
Domaine Nicolas Rossignol
5 Rue Colbert
21200 Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 21 62 43
www.nicolas-rossignol.com
More reports for Domaine Nicolas Rossignol
Nicolas on 2020:
“After 2018 and 2019, 2020 is the vintage where I felt we really had to change our style of farming – if we want elegance and finesse. A year of great weather, only 5 treatments in the whole year, producing very clean grapes but the dryness has been something of a cumulative problem. The dryness hasn’t helped us with 161-49 rootstocks – the quality is great and I have older vines of 50-60-years-old with this rootstock and they are fine, the roots can reach water, but for the younger vines it’s a big problem. We are replacing much earlier than planned so I’m having to replant a lot of the younger vines – on the other hand, I’ve some vines that are 115 years old and they are in fine shape. We need to water some of the younger vines – it’s allowed if there are no grapes. 22 August was our start this year but it was really a question of which parcel. There is plenty of volume in this vintage – but for whites – the reds are almost half a harvest in this vintage.”
Nicolas on 2019:
“There’s a nice acidity in this vintage – like in 2020. We had cool nights which helped. The volume was down again – about 30 hl/ha so practically 25% down.”
The wines…
I missed some vintages chez Nico, so it was nice of him to include some excellent, occasionally great, 2018s too. The 2019s are pure but powerful wines at this address and all will repay your patience – some top class wines here.
Probably the first bottlings will be in January and then slowly thereafter the full range…
In demi-muids and a little tank. 2 parcels of old vines; one in the bottom of Volnay and the other from high in Pommard.
That’s a nicely intense, acid-style of fruit on the nose. Very easy, but very delicious, insistent on the palate – that’s simply a great aligoté – textural wine here.
2019 Bourgogne Heritières
1902 vines.
A width of aroma, some whole-cluster included, deeper red fruit slightly cushioned. A proper structure to this wine – always mouth-watering, lots of intensity – a world away from modern Bourgogne – excellent.
2019 Savigny-lès-Beaune
Plenty of colour. All destemmed in this case. More accessible red fruit and an accent of florals too. That’s a nice introduction. Direct, extra energy extra structure too – quite juicy but also with a structure that would have me waiting a year or two. The finish is wide and suggests you take another sip!
Two parcels both in En Combes – next to Fichots and Corton-Charlemagne.
Also a deep nose, slightly darker red fruit, a round impression – as the previous wines. A more velvet structure vs the Savigny – depth to the texture here with layers of nicely energetic fruit. That’s a great villages.
2019 Pommard Noizons
Relatively flat but south- south-west exposed. A mix of Noizons and Petits Noizons with a little wc included.
A bigger, rounder nose, faintly spiced from whole clusters. In the mouth, that’s nicely perfumed from the stems, the tannin really discrete at the base. That’s a super wine.
2019 Pommard Les Vignots
On white soil.
Plenty of colour. Also a wide, slightly spiced nose, practically very little wc to see in this case though the same 30% as the last. Mouth-filling, full of chalky freshness. The tannin more forward but practically with no grain. This will require a little patience, but I love!
2019 Volnay
5 different parcels, 4 under the 1ers but more than half that comes from white soil above the 1ers. Separately vinified but assembled for the elevage.
A more transparent nose, open, accessible, less overt in any direction. In the mouth like the nose more airy, open, finely structured. The texture is excellent. Not a big wine, but a beautifully balanced one with some fine intensity in the finish.
30% wc in this fermentation.
A good width of fresh aroma, faintly with some classic Savigny herby elements. Extra depth of flavour, growing wider – less ethereal than the Volnay – more depth of concentration. Hmm, saline and wide – that’s a delicious finish – to eat! Bravo Savigny!
2019 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Les Fichots
Red soil, lots of iron, two parcels assembled.
A nose of width but a fresh weight to that width – darker-red fruit. Nice attack, cool fruit, a sucrosity here, depth of darker fruit flavour. Long, faintly drying tannin but there’s no grain here – that dryness won’t last long. That’s a delicious, slightly richer but completely fresh wine – gorgeous!
18 was first vintage here – this still in barrels. For the moment completely destemmed but Nico thinks that this will accept a few wc in the future.
Plenty of colour. A depth of aroma, more fruit than flowers. Ooh – that’s so wide and juicy – delivering delicious flavour in waves. That’s a top Volnay today already.
2019 Volnay 1er Clos des Angles
Some (more than 50%) whole cluster used here.
Hmm, that’s a classy width of freshness – the aromas not cliché, floral, Volnay but a great invitation all the same. Like the Mitans this is quite juicy, just a little more structural – there’s more of a framework for the flavours. Long, mouth-watering flavour.
2019 Volnay 1er Caillerets
Used a little wc – 10% in 2018 for the first time and liked the result, so the same for this vintage.
The nose is not greatly different to the previous wines – except – there’s an extra depth and clarity to that depth of aroma. Lots of density but delivered with freshness. The flavour mobile and changing – the last notes wrapped in plenty of tannin, slightly drying but long and no grain. Simply excellent wine.
30% wc in this wine
A little extra colour. Hmm – width blended with depth of aroma – darker fruited again. Here is density but delivered with a balanced structure – really mouth-watering. My style of wine. That’s really great!
2019 Volnay 1er Roncerets
Round, fine dark fruit on the nsoe. Extra sucrosity in the attack – the perfect balancing act with the slightly dry finish from the Chevrets. The tannin finer and less active here. A super finish again.
Three parcels amounting to 2.10 hectares, split into 4 cuvées for the elevage.
Lots of colour as is usual here. Deeper, a touch of oak and coffee but also a width of dark fruit – lots to excite here. Super volume and freshness in the mouth – with just an accent of cushioning. Large-scaled, completely delicious wine. Bravo. Wait a little for the barrel to fade but this will be great.
From above the Clos des Epeneaux – this from 115-year-old vines, used as a selection massale in other places but with a wide selection of rootstocks, also the types of graft to try to find the best route forward…
A fine freshness of aroma, deep and multi-dimensional. Ooh. That’s a great wine from the start, depth, energy concentration. Complete wine. The tannin present but charming, super wide in the finish – almost chewy in the finish but still with energy. Bravo – grand vin…
And some 2018s?:
2018 Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Not Heritière
Quite open, concentrated, deeply fruited – but fresh fruit. There’s a nice mineral width to this wine, good structure. Ooh – that’s really a very fine Bourgogne, but a baby right now.
2018 Aloxe-Corton
A faint width of spice. Plenty of frehness here – really – it brings with it some slightly dry structure but the tannin has no grain. Love the energy, wait 3-4 years before returning.
That’s deep and delicious – really an impression of wc but there’s none. In the mouth too – full, textured, layered, a rose-petal impression, structure but virtually nothing dry, certainly no grain to the tannin – that’s great Beaune – great finishing…
2018 Volnay 1er Mitans
First vintage.
Hmm, fresh, wide, almost silky – I’ve almost the impression of a more Pommard nose to start but then it becomes redder-fruited. Bright, wide, red berry, structure. That’s a fine freshness for the vintage. There’s some tannin you can eat in the finish but there’s nothing here that’s hard and always with a slowly mouth-watering style to balance.
2018 Volnay 1er Clos des Angles
That’s a deep nose, very faintly spiced – warm spice. Big in the mouth, there’s energy, mouth-watering indeed generous flavour and a slight dryness of structure – but all in balance. Like the last, there’s enough mouth-watering flavour in the finish to balance anything that the structure offers.
2018 Volnay 1er Roncerets
Hmm – an extra width of aromatic freshness and darker berry fruit here. Big in the mouth – full of energy a little dryness to the grain-free tannin, almost a chalky style to the texture. Really persistent in the finish. Another fine 18 but for keeping like the others.
2018 Volnay 1er Santenots
Plenty of colour. A width of aroma again – impossibly silkily spiced in this width. Full in the mouth – like Rocnerets. Really mouth-watering and more than enough to balance the structural tannin. Wide and intense but balanced finishing – a great finish of balanced power.
2018 Pommard 1er Clos des Vergers
That has a lovely width of aroma a hint of floral fruit and a slight impression of sous bois – there’s a bit of that in many of the 18s here. Super silky, wide, sophisticated structure. That’s a beautiful wine and one of the most approachable of these today.
Great depth of colour, but far from saturated. Fine, elegant nose, but rather compact today – slowly adding dimension with time. Beautiful first impression. Airy but complex, depth, very well covered structured. That’s another great wine!
