Tasted in Bligny-lès-Beaune with Pascal Roblet, 10 October 2023.
Domaine Roblet-Monnot
11 rue de la Combe
21190 Volnay
Tel: +33 6 74 21 82 04
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Pascal an 2023:
“Mainly 35-38 hl/ha in the 1ers and nearly 40 in villages in 2023 – this is more than I usually produce but I think I was still very reasonable with the potential volumes. Those that didn’t reject a lot of fruit could easily have 60+ hl/ha.”
Pascal an 2022:
“2022 wasn’t a simple year but the volume was ‘normal’ The pre-harvest rain helped achieve the final maturity. We had more than 2021! The malos weren’t the easiest – we had to remain vigilant. The main problem was that there wasn’t much malic acidity so the malos often stopped – the end of the fermentations were also often long – lack of acidity, amount of sugar – multiple parameters. For all that it’s a ripe but classic – not a hot – vintage. 2022 doesn’t have the ripeness of 2020 – that’s the most I think of.”
Pascal has only just started selling his villages 2019s in France and some 2020s in export markets.
The wines…
Beautiful wines – worth your time to make a special search!
2022 Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune
Wow – what a great nose – round, complex and inviting – that’s a great invitation. Full, juicy, quite sweet but just a wine that makes you want to take another hit – it’s simply super. Très long!
2022 Pommard
Deep colour. Dark fruit – a little shy but these are clean-cut aromas. Mouth-filling – some modest tannin here but as you would expect, all ripe, nothing grainy. Right at the end if makes a tighter more impressive finishing line. ‘Yes with the second winter this will affine.‘
Pascal’s father is called Francois, and one of his sons too. This note from a blend of three barrels… Some parcels destemmed, some not, some partially destemmed – this, of course, the assembly.
Still a very deep nose but also a silkier nose. Hmm – direct and silky – architectural. Still some finesse with elevage but this could be a great one!
2022 Volnay 1er Cru Vignes de Madeleine
The blend of Robardelles, Brouillards and Taillepieds.
A little less colour – though still plenty. A width of complexity, almost a textural nose. Mouth-filling yet more airy and juicy and open and complex, and, and, and – only the texture and drive of the previous is showing better today.
A depth of brooding dark fruit – but with freshness – a little tight in the top notes but still with a suggestion of growing airiness. Broader, texturally super – lithe yet intense. Cooler fruit – almost cold – that’s large yet still beguiling wine. I don’t expect many better Brouillards this year – Bravo!
Redder, deeper fruit – again with freshness but more open than the Brouillards. Another texturally super wine. A little extra depth – a cushion – of flavour vs the Brouillards. This width showcasing more complexity but a clarity of complexity too – no Jackson Pollack here. A personal preference for the Brouillards today on this presentation but with extra elevage I’d expect that this will be the complete wine – Bravo again!
2022 Volnay 1er Pitures
One barrel only – as usual.
Medium breadth aroma – a faint cocoa powder aroma here – the same source of barrels as the previous wines. Cool, direct, a faint extra tannin – but blink and it’s already melted – it’s gone. Open, airy but still beautifully complex finishing – such finesse! A long diminuendo of a finish. Beautiful wine.
And Les Whites:
2022 Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune Blanc
Hmm – a large but inviting nose of complex ripe citrus. Supple, good weight of flavour but with a little mineral energy that stops this from seeming fat. The finish is very impressive – it’s not heavy but it is long! That’s more than very good.
2022 Meursault 1er Les Charmes
Already in tank for the final part of its elevage – bottling in march-April.
A lot of colour here. The nose is large today, with a complexity of barrel and herb with some additional citrus-skin notes – it becomes more open and attractive as it meets the air in the glass. Large scale in the mouth – silken, balanced despite the weight of flavour. A small barrel cream is visible in the middle and finish. But this is an impressively stony and quite mineral finish. The barrel impression will, I think, be largely gone in 6-12 months. It turns out that this was a new 330 litre barrel so I’m very impressed by this – it will be months before it’s bottled and I think the oak may no-longer be detectable by this time. Already impressive – imposing – but I think the potential to be excellent after it has been bottled.
And for the road?