Winery visit with Domaine François Carillon (Puligny-Montrachet, Burgundy)

French vacation days are (i) plentiful and (ii) fully subscribed. That was the unenviable situation we faced when trying to book appointments for winery visits in Burgundy on May 1, Labor Day on the French holiday calendar. And given that the 2nd was a Friday, people were just going to make a long weekend of it. So, try as he might, Raj could only convince one winemaker to see us on May 1: François Carillon of Domaine François Carillon.

Domaine François Carillon is a relatively new estate but has roots stretching back to one John Carillon who was listed in the records of Puligny in 1520. The most recent link back to this long-lived family vocation was Domaine Louis Carillon et Fils, incorporated by Louis Carillon in 1981 and providing a vehicle wherein he could produce wines with his sons Jacques and François. In the enterprise, Jacques was responsible for winemaking and François the viticultural aspects; and they continued this arrangement after their father's retirement. More recently, however, the brothers decided to split the assets of the company between them and form two separate wineries: Domaine François Carillon and Domaine Jacques Carillon. The 2009 vintage was the initial vintage for both Domaines.

It was François' winery that we would be visiting on this French holiday. We got there at the appointed time and pulled on the winery door but it was locked. We hung around in the street for awhile, waiting for François to show. It took a minute but, instead of being displeased, we treated him like a long lost brother. After all, he had left his family at home to come see us on a holiday. For a Frenchman, this is sacrilegious.

Hanging around in Puligny waiting for Francois
to show

After the asset split, François owned plots in Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet as well as a negociant business. His goal is to steadily degrade the quantity of the negociant business and increase the size of the estate. To that end he has grown the estate from 5 to 11 ha to include 69.12 ares in Chassagne-Montrachet and 65.67 ares in Saint-Aubin. The distribution of the Domaine's Premier Cru vineyards are shown in the maps below.

François' heart is in the vineyard and his farming practices are designed to deliver excellent fruit to the cellar door. Farming is organic with a caveat that chemical intervention will be implemented if extreme conditions are encountered. Grape production levels are managed by pruning and de-budding with a goal of 8 bunches per vine.

As we entered the cellar François mentioned that it had the capacity for 300 barrels and, like most Puligny cellars, was not deep due to the high water table. Grapes are hand-harvested and sorted prior to presentation to a pneumatic press. The juice is fermented in oak barrels (15% new for Village, 20 - 25% new for Premier Crus) for 4 to 6 weeks, with natural yeasts powering the process. The wines spend a year in the oak barrels where they are subjected to bâtonnage. Bâtonnage ceases when malolactic fermentation is complete. After the residence in oak, the wines are transferred to stainless steel tanks for 6 months in order to "refine their breeding."

Puligny wines have been described as "portraying a floral elegeance alongside a stylish, steely concentration" by BBR and "... taut, precise, and mineral" by Ben Lewis MW. François' goal is to produce wines with fruit, elegance, and finesse. We examine how close the 2012 vintage of the Domaine François Carillon wines approach these ideals. Another area of interest in tasting these wines was to examine how well a noted viticulturist (François) had transitioned into the role of vitiviniculturist. A selection of the wines tasted are presented below.

Bourgogne 2012 This wine is blended from three different parcels in Meursault, Puligny, and Chassagne. Rich, concentrated with sweet citrus fruit and melon. Fresh and balanced.

Puligny-Montrachet 2012 This wine was sourced from 11 plots on clay-limestone soils with average vine age of 35 years. Citrus, ripe white and yellow fruits, almonds. Mineral, fresh, balanced.

Les Champs Gains 2012 Clay-limestone-pebbly soils with vine age averaging 46 years. Fatter and richer in style. Floral with subtler fruit. Lemon zest, peach. Mineral. Elegant and balanced.

Les Folatieres 2012 Forty-six-year old vines on clay-limestone-pebbly soils. Only three barrels of this wine was made in this vintage. Rich with a racy finish. Saline minerality.

Les Combettes 2012 Not as cutting as some of the wines that have gone before. Great fruit balance with citrus dominant. Fresh with excellent finish.

Les Perrieres 2012 Concentrated, rich, with citrus, spice and hazelnut on the nose. Bright and elegant. Mineral with a balanced finish.

Chevalier-Montrachet 2012 Only 1 barrel of this wine made. Toasty note. Green papaya. Searing acidity. Mineral-driven.

The crispness and mineral-driven nature of the wines tasted at François Carillon are very representative of Puligny wines and the high quality of the offerings demonstrate that the Domaine is in excellent hands -- even if those hands have been formed in the vineyard.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Sparkling wines of the Limoux AOC (Aube, Languedoc)

Sparkling wine production in France can be placed into four broad categories:

1. Champagne -- King of the hill. Reserved for sparkling wines produced within the delimited area of the Champagne wine region.
2. Crémant -- sparkling wine made using the méthode traditionelle. Wines in this category include Crémant de Loire, Crémant d'Alsace,  Crémant de Bourgogne, Crémant de Bordeaux, Crémant de Die, and the newly minted Crémant de Savoie. These wines have to adhere to the following restrictions:
1. Harvested by hand within set production quotas
2. Whole-bunch pressed
3. Sulfur dioxide use limited
4. > 9 months on lees
5. About half the carbon of Champagne
6. Submitted to a QC tasting panel for approval
3. Méthode Ancestrale -- wines are generally bottled with residual sugar. Effervescence gained via refermentation (or continued fermentation) in the bottle.
4. All others -- sparkling wines made in any of the available sparkling wine production methods to the exclusion of the Méthode Ancestrale.

Limoux AOC has the distinction of being one of only two AOCs (the others is Die) to produce a sparkling wine in each of the available categories (keeping in mind that Champagne production is impossible for producers outside of the region). Limoux AOC sparkling wine production encompasses Crémant de Limoux, Blanquette de Limoux, and Blanquette de Limoux Méthode Ancestrale (The term Blanquette stems from the Mauzac variety developing a white down on its leaves.). I have written previously of the terroir of the region and will discuss the wines in the remainder of this post.

Crémant de Limoux gained its AOC status in in 1990. The primary grapes are Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc which, together, should not exceed 90% of the blend. Chardonnay must be a minimum 40% of the blend while Chenin Blanc can range between 20% and 40%. The secondary grapes in the blend are Mauzac Blanc and Pinot Noir with the latter limited to a max of 20%. A total of 620 ha is devoted to the production of grapes for this wine. Crémant de Limoux offers up aromas of white flowers, citrus, and toast. This wine spends 12 months on the lees plus three months post-disgorgement in bottle prior to sale. Alcohol level post-dosage is at 13%. Annual production is 24,745 hl.

Blanquette de Limoux is produced from Mauzac (90%), Chenin Blanc, and Chardonnay varieties planted over an 1100-ha area on the tops of south-facing slopes. These wines are produced using the Champagne method and spend 9 months on lees and three months in bottle post-disgorgement. The 48,000 hl of wine produced attain alcohol levels of 13%. The wines are produced in Brut, demi-sec, doux, and sweet styles. Aromas are evocative of fruits, spring flowers, apple, and honey.

Méthode Ancestrale sparkling wine -- awarded AOC status in 1938 -- is produced from 100% Mauzac grapes whose partially fermented juice is bottled on a full moon in March. Fermentation concludes in the bottle, producing a wine that is higher in residual sugar, lower in alcohol, and less effervescent than its compatriots. Alcohol levels for this wine is around 7%. Aroma and flavors include apricot, acacia, hawthorne, peach, and apple. Production levels are 4000 hl annually.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Limoux AOC: Creation of a sparkling wine terroir

Absent the "skullduggery" of Friar Dom, Limoux would have been the world's bubbly of choice. Because, according to the region's boosters, sparkling wine production was developed therein 150 years before its introduction in Champagne. Furthermore, Dom Perignon had been hosted at the Monastery at St. Hilaire (in Limoux) where he learned the production method that he later introduced as his own. Bubbly production in Limoux today does not approach Champagne in volume or quality but the region is certified to produce three AOC sparkling wines: Cremant de Limoux, Blanquette de Limoux, and Blanquette Method Ancestrale.

Limoux is located in the Aude departement of Languedoc-Roussillon, 100 kilometers west of the Mediterranean Sea between the Chalabra and Lacamp plateaus to the west and east, respectively, and hard-up against the foothills of the Pyrénées-Orientales to its south.

Languedoc-Roussillon. Source: wineandvinesearch.com

The Aude wine region. Source: frenchentree.com

Communes of Limoux winemaking. Source: vin-sud-france.fr

Climate
Limoux, though close to the Mediterranean -- and subject to its effects -- has three distinct "climatic terroirs," as reflected by the grapes grown therein. Areas to the east of Limoux experience a warm climate and annual rainfall of 650 mm/year. Sugar levels accumulate rapidly necessitating harvest-initiation here. Areas west of Limoux are affected by the Atlantic and experience the highest rainfall -- 780 mm/yr -- and a humid climate. Mediterranrean effects do penetrate to this region periodically. The Auton terroir is located in the heart of the appellation on the slopes surrounding Limoux. This terroir is sheltered from Atlantic and Mediterranean effects by the the surrounding Corbières and Chalabrais Mountains. The climate is warm and dry with cool nights and rainfall of 570 mm/year. This is the second area harvested. The fourth climate zone is referred to as the terroir of the Upper Valley. It is located up the river Aude in the foothills of the Pyrenees above 300 m elevation. The weather is wetter and cooler -- rainfall of 750 mm-- with a late spring and cool fall.

Landscape Formation
Because of its location, the Limoux region escaped the Mesozoic marine incursions experienced by Champagne, for example. As a result, the region has no deposits from that period included in its formulative strata. It is not until the Eocene that the seas intrude and deposits of that era mark the occurence.

Limoux Landscape Formation

Stage	Event	Outcome
1	Lower Eocene marine invasions that  submerged region	Alternating layers of hard and soft deposits: sandy limestone (Thanatian period) red sandy clays (Spanacian) hard foraminiferal limestone, blue Turritellae-bearing marls, and oyster-bearing sandstone banks (Llerdian)
2	Mid-Eocene Pyrenean uplift	Stage 1 deposits overlaid by Lutetian detritus stripped from newly formed peaks and washed downstream by rivers
3	Upper Eocene formation of Massif de Mouthoumet due to compression of land between the Pyrenees and Montagne  Noire	Creation of east-west fault that divides current-day Limoux into two distinct landscapes: southern half with hills ranging between 980 and 2600 feet and south-sloping strata northern half with lower elevations (460 - 1300 feet) and north-sloping strata

Source: Jacques Fanet, Great Wine Terroirs.

From Landscape to Vineyard Sites
The vineyard soils above and below the Limoux fault are limestone-based but their derivation have been markedly dissimilar. In the south, for the most part, the Paleocene-Eocene formations have been eroded away, laying bare the bedrock in the form of a cuesta (a long. low ridge with a relatively steep face on one side and a long, gentle slope on the other -- dictionary.reference.com). Small basins have been dug out of the softer formations (red Spanacian marls in the Luc-sur-Aude; blue Turritellae-bearing marls in the Couiza-Coustaussa valley; and red Maestrichtian marls in Campagne-sur-Aude) and vineyards have been established thereupon (Fanet).

In the northern portion of the Limoux AOC, we also have a cuesta topography. The Lutetitian detritus was laid down in two layers separated by a layer of lacustrine limestone. Erosion of this mass formed a cuesta with alternating bands of sandstone and marly beds. According to Fanet, the "cradle of production lies to the west of Limoux in the molasse basin of Magrice and de Toureilles, an ideally suited location tucked between Massif de Mouthoumet to the south and the Lutetian lacustrine limestone to the north."

I will present the sparkling wines of Limoux AOC in my next post.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Northern Rhone Rocks: Soils of the sub-region

The Rhone Valley vineyard architecture has been shaped by tectonic, hydrologic, and wind forces applied to the evolving landscape over eons, as described in a prior post. The result has been two distinctly different vineyard settings: (i) vineyards on the edge of faults (Northern Rhone) and (ii) vineyards set in sedimentary basins (Southern Rhone). We address the Northern Rhone vineyards in this post based on the work of Jacques Fanet (Great Wine Terroirs).

The aftershock associated with the Alpine folding (started in the Upper Cretaceous and reached a crescendo in the Miocene) caused an uplift in the eastern edge of the Massif Central with implications for Burgundy, Beaujolais and the Rhone Valley. In the Rhone Valley, the uplift was non-uniform. Rather, it occurred in fault-delimited tranches that front on the river's northern course. One such fault is responsible for the river's rightward jog at Vienne prior to returning to its "normal" southerly course in the area of Condrieu.

Bordering the river for its entire northern course, and varying in its width, is a band of alluvial soil which has been continuously brought downriver from the Alps. Most of the riverbank towns in the Northern Rhone are built on beds of this alluvia.

With the exception of the Croze-Hermitage and Hermitage AOCs, all of the Northern Rhone appellations are located on the right-hand-side of the river, clinging precariously to the steep metamorphic or granitic slopes of the Massif Central.

The Côte-Rotie is the first appellation encountered on the river's southward trek and its 60º, terraced slopes are dark brown, weathered as they are from Mica bedrock. The soils in the south of the appellation are thin, lighter in color, and weathered from Gneiss bedrock. The southwest jog of the Rhône between Vienne and Condrieu provides excellent southeastern exposure for vines. Syrah thrives here.

Beginning at Condrieu AOC, the right bank is granitic rock capped by loess. These granitic scarps give way to metamorphic rocks in the Saint-Joseph appellation opposite the confluence of the Dolon River. The north-south flow of the river in this zone provides an easterly exposure on the cliff face, undesirable for grape-growing in this region. Instead, a series of northeast-to-southwest valleys provide south, southeast, and east exposures and are exploited for vineyard plantings.

The Saint-Joseph appellation is granitic to the north, gives way to metamorphic rock just north of the St. Vallier cut, and then reverts to granite opposite Tain-l'Hermitage.

From Vienne to Saint-Vallier, the left bank of the river still reflects the multi-level terraces formed as the river recut its banks in the migration to its current course. In the places where best preserved, a total of four terrace levels are on display. Beginning at Saint-Vallier, the Rhone cut its way through the metamorphic rocks and basement granite, providing right-bank-style soils on the left bank between Saint-Vallier and Tain-l'Hermitage. The Hermitage appellation encompasees the granite of the Hill of Hermitage plus some of the upper-terrace strata. The Crozes-Hermitage appellation is inclusive of the Hermitage soils as well as the Miocene and lower-terrace soils. Terrace soils are primarily clay-limestone from the Tertiary period.

For the remainder of the river's Northern Valley course, the left bank displays lower terrace strata and one outcropping of upper-terrace strata overlaying Miocene deposits in the upper reaches of the Isere tributary. The river continues to hug the right bank along the Massif through the remainder of the Saint-Joseph appellation.

Cornas AOC is also a granitic appellation but is shelterted from the north winds by a Jurassic limestone outcrop called Les Arlettes. The river and the granitic scarp begin to diverge in the vicinity of Les Arlettes with the Massif trending southwest and the river to the southeast. The space thus created is occupied by lower-terrace strata.

Saint-Péray AOC is the southernmost of the Northern Rhone appellations. The Massif Central intrudes into the appellation in its northwest quadrant and combines with a similarly oriented Jurassic limestone outcrop -- Crussol -- to hem in a band of Miocene-Pliocene strata. The Saint-Péray soil is a complex mix of limestone, clay-limestone, and granite which owes its composition to a number of donors (rhone-wines.com): (i) granite from the Primary Period contributes a hint of silica; (ii) Jurassic limestones from the Secondary Era; (iii) marine deposits from the Tertiary Period are the source of today's clay-limestone soils; (iv) a veneer of loess from the Quaternary Period and Major Glaciations; and (v) alluvial deposits carried down from the Alps by the Rhône River. The vineyards themselves extend for 75 ha on the gentle lower terrace slopes at the foot of the Crussol Hill with south and southeast exposures. Marsanne and Roussanne are the allowed grape varieties in the appellation.

As the Massif Central rapidly exits stage right, space is created wherein Vocontian Trough and sedimentary basin geology dominate. This is the realm of the Southern Rhone. Its geology will be revealed in a subsequent post.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Construction of the Rhone wine region landscape

I have been selected to participate in a Press Trip to Chateauneuf du Pape and Tavel prior to DWCC14. I will, of course, be reporting on my findings both during and after the trip but, in keeping with my blog's mantra of "a story within a story," I will set the stage by describing, in ever-tightening circles, the environments within which the winemakers of those two regions operate. I begin here with the outermost circle, landscape formation in the Rhone River Basin, the broader region within which these two appellations are located.

Source: grid.unep.ch

The Rhône wine region runs along its namesake river for 250 km (150 miles) -- and 6 departèments -- between Lyon in the north and Avignon in the south with a division into northern and southern sub-regions at the point where the Drôme tributary intersects the main course. The Northern Rhône is characterized by a continental climate, granitic soils, steep slopes, and the mistral (a high-speed --140 km/90 miles per hour -- north wind that is funneled between the Massif Central and Vercors when there is high pressure over northern France and low pressure in the western Mediterranean) while the south has a more Mediterranean climate, the marin (a moist sea wind), and stony soils. What they both have in common, though, is a sea of red wine: only 2% of the region's production is white.

The Rhone Valley is a sedimentary basin but, unlike the expansiveness of its two better-known compatriots (Paris and Aquitaine basins), it is corridor-like and tightly bound between the unflinching basement rock of the Massif Central to its east and the younger rocks of the Alps to its west (Fanet, Great Wine Terroirs).

I have treated the formation of the Massif Central in my comparison of Douro and Beaujolais granite and schists. Suffice it to say that it was part of a vast mountain range (The Hercynian Mountain Belt) stretching from Britain to Eastern Europe which was formed as a result of a continental collision which ended 200 million years ago. This range has been severely eroded over millennia and in many places only exist as "basement" rock, hidden from view by sedimentary deposits. The figures below show the distribution of cover and basement rocks in current-day France as well as the composition of the varying rock types.

Basement and cover rocks of France.
Source:http://www.virtual-geology.info/lozere/lozere.html

Relationship between basement and cover rocks.
Source: http://www.virtual-geology.info/lozere/lozere.html

Formation timeline -- basement and cover rocks
Source: http://www.virtual-geology.info/lozere/lozere.html

The table below catalogs a series of events from the Lower Cretaceous onwards which have had contributory effects to the current Rhone Valley landscape. The figure immediately following shows the geologic construct of France as a whole and, outlined in black, that of the Rhone River Valley.

Period	Action/Occurrence	Result
Lower Cretaceous (135 - 96 My)	Reef limestone deposited on continental platform surrounding Vocontian Trough (deep undersea area south of today's Valence)	Hard limestone hills now surrounding the Rhone Valley
Upper Cretaceous (96 - 65 My)	Vocontian Trough filled with sandstone/sandy limestone/marly-sandstone First phase of folding in Provence due to uplift of Pyrenean-Provençal axis (through end of Eocene)	Formed right bank of Rhone, Tricastin, and Massif d’Uchaux Forced the Jurassic and Cretaceous cover northward
Oligocene (36 - 24 My)	Thick deposits of conglomerates, sandstones, limestone accumulated in the foothills of the young hills	Rhone Valley axis collapsed
Miocene (24 - 5 My)	Sea used the Rhone Valley as a corridor to link up to sea covering Central Europe Alpine uplift reaches a crescendo	Sands, marly sands, sandy molasse deposited Rhone digs itself through Miocene deposits as well as Urgonian limestone (formation of the Donzère defile) Carves deep gash in basement granite north of present-day Tain l'Hermitage Raising of the region along its eastern border
Pliocene (5 - 2 My)	Final marine incursion	Deposits of fine argillaceous and argillaceous-sandy elements
Quaternary (2 -  My)	Erosion changed the look of the landscape	Rubble and scree built up in the piedmont of the Urgonian limestone hills Four levels of stony terrace systems formed along the Rhone and tributaries

MY = Millions of years. Data sourced from Fanet, Great Wine Terroirs.

The types of soils present in, as well as the location of, vineyards are a result of these landscape formation activities. In a follow-up post I will detail the vineyards and their soils.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Tasting the wines at Domaine Guy Roulot

The tasting during our Domaine Roulot visit proceeded on two tracks: a tasting of the 2012 whites followed by a tasting, some of it blind, of some older Roulot vintages. The 2012 tasting segment tasered terroir onto our palates while the free-form segment cemented Raj Parr's reputation as an accomplished blind taster with superior knowledge of Burgundy wines.

2012 Meursaults

The 2012 vintage had been abnormal with hail damage, mildew, odium, and heat combining for a 60% reduction in stock. We tasted through the full range of Meursault wines. Given that these wines were from the same vintage, and had been subjected to similar winemaking treatments, any differences should be attributable to terroir. And we did note such differences. There were consistent observations of fruitiness, minerality, and crisp acidity but texture, degree and shade of fruitiness, type of minerality, and florality varied depending on the source of the fruit. Our observations regarding these wines are captured in the table below.

                           Domaine Guy Roulot 2012 Meursault Wines

Classification	Climats/Lieux-Dits	Location	Characteristics
Bourgogne Blanc		Meursault	Citrus, mineral, acidity
Meursault		Slope south of valley	White fruit, citrus, floral, mineral, freshness
	Tillets	Highest on the slope and facing south	Floral, focused, step up in quality
	Vireuils	North of Tillets at slightly lower elevation; east-facing	White fruit, richness, crisp acidity, will age well
	Luchets	Further north and lower	Sweet white fruits, floral, citrus, chalky minerality, richness
	Narvaux	Adjacent to Tillets	Only 1 barrel made. Slight oakiness
	Meix Chavaux	North of Premier Crus but at same elevation	Lemon, stone, denser than wines preceding, mineral, sea shell
	Tessons	do.	First bottle deemed improper by Jean-Marc. Second bottle fresher fruit, minerality, crisp acidity. Balanced with a long finish
Premier Cru	Bouchères	Northernmost	White fruits, mineral, citrus
	Porusot	South of Bouchères	Tight minerality, sea shell, citrus, crisp acidity
	Charmes	On Puligny border; 70-year-old vines	4 barrels made. Big, rich fruit structure
	Perrieres		Big structure. Grand Cru quality. Pear. Weighty, mineral. Long finish

Pre-2012 Vintages

The first wine tasted in this segment was the 2011 Bourgogne Blanc. Jean-Marc said that this vintage had experienced early flowering and harvesting and there had been no attacks of odium or mildew. This wine had great texture and balance. Ron voiced that it was the best Bourgogne on the planet. The next  offering was the 2011 Tessons, a wine which revealed lemon, pear, and a distinct mineral note.

The next wine was offered blind. Tangerine, earthiness, and a chalky minerality. One of the things that we noted during this trip was that the winemakers all wanted to have Raj taste their wines blind. They constantly put him to the test and he consistently hit the mark or came pretty close. In this case he surmised 2010 Bouchères. It was 2009 Bouchères instead. Jean-Marc rapidly followed with another blind wine which Raj thought was a 2005 Tessons. It was. The third blind wine was ripe and open. 2003 Tillets said Raj. Right again. A tour de force of blind tasting in my opinion. The next wine offered had tangerine and honey on the nose and was very rich. I got lucky and tagged the vintage as 1989. It was a 1989 Bourgogne Blanc.

The final wine tasted was the 1992 Perrieres. Sweet tropical fruit to include pineapple. Ron described it as absolutely amazing. Jean-Marc called it "old Chardonnay." Raj said that this is one of his 10 best wines of all time.

A blockbuster end to a truly amazing tasting and a truly amazing day. Unfortunately the morrow did not attain this level of sustained, intense brilliance.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Winery visit with Jean-Marc Roulot of Domaine Guy Roulot

To taste a Domaine Roulot wine is to taste a sense of deep rootedness, fine and crystalline, and yet somehow open. Although subtly powerful, the wine never imposes itself before the taster has time to form his own reactions... For me, the subtlety and finesse of Jean-Marc's very feline wines fulfill the criteria for a legitimate work of art: conventions coexisting with freedom of access and interpretation.

Thus had Jonathan Nossiter (Liquid Memory) described the wines of Domaine Guy Roulot. And, after stellar visits at DRC and Domaine Armand Rousseau, we were on our way to taste the wines so eloquently described by Nossiter.

Domaine Guy Roulot is headed by Jean-Marc Roulot, scion of the namesake founder, who took the reins of the Domaine in 1989 from a succession of caretaker winemakers who had overseen production since the death of his father in 1982. The Domaine is known primarily for its plot-specific whites from Village and Premier Cru sites in Meursault but it also produces red wines with grapes sourced from Auxey-Duresses and Monthélie as well as a Bourgogne red sourced from Volnay and Puligny-Montrachet parcels.

                          Domaine Guy Roulot Meursault Climats and Lieux-Dits

Classification	Climats/Lieux-Dits	Location	Soil Characteristic	Wine Descriptors
Meursault		Slope south of valley
	Tillets	Highest on the slope and facing south		Floral and mineral. Vineyards on the upper slope make bititng, precise wines*
	Vireuils	North of Tillets at slightly lower elevation; east-facing		Rich yet racy
	Luchets	Further north and lower		Round with great length
	Narvaux	Adjacent to Tillets		Generous, lush character
	Meix Chavaux	North of Premier Crus but at same elevation		Opulent and ripe
	Tessons	do.		Powerful, long, complex
Premier Cru	Bouchères	Northernmost	Shallow, stony soil	Silky texture; medium-bodied; elegant. Bigger, rounder, easier*
	Porusot	South of Bouchères	do.	Fuller body
	Charmes	On Puligny border; 70-year-old vines		Round, fleshy, ripe, mineral, complex; great depth of flavor

Source: rarewineco.com; *Dominique Lafon in Nossiter’s Liquid Memory.

Jean-Marc's commitment to these terroirs, and their wines, is illustrated by his comments to Nossiter: "... I am as attached to my village vineyard designation as the premier cru. The day I can't bottle my Tillets, Meix Chavaux, and Tessons separately is the day I'll leave any system of official designation. ... We need to continue to work to understand the individual identities of each parcel of vines, whether it is at the village, premier cru, or grand cru level." In a more recent conversation with Benjamin Lewin MW, Jean-Marc ranked the differences between lieux-dits as: (i) exposition, (ii) elevation, then (iii) the clay-limestone proportions with a resultant 1-week differential in harvest-initiation between Luchets and Narvaux.

One of the early decisions that Jean-Marc made upon taking the reins at Domaine Roulot was to pursue organic farming. In explaining his decision to Nossiter, Jean-Marc spoke admiringly of biodynamicism but going organic was a huge step for the winery. It was a step, however, which allowed the individual identity of each plot to be "more strongly expressed." Even though practicing organic principles since 1989, the estate was not formally certified until 2013.

The estate produces both white and red wines with the whites made from Chardonnay or Aligoté and the red from Pinot Noir. The winemaking processes are illustrated in the graphic below.

A winemaking couple from Santa Barbara was joining us for the tasting so, after hurried introductions, we headed to the cellars. It was clear that Raj and Jean-Marc were good friends and were happy to see each other because they immediately fell into an animated winemaking conversation which threaded its way through our entire visit. It was fascinating and a wonderful learning opportunity for us.

The wines to be tasted were placed on an upright barrel in the center of the room and Jean-Marc began to open them. The tasting would unfold in two parts: a tasting of the 2012 whites followed by a tasting, some of it blind, of some older vintages.

As he opened the first bottle, Jean-Marc looked around the cellar ruefully noting that, under normal circumstances, barrels would be stacked three rows high. The 2012 vintage had not been normal though with hail damage, mildew, odium, and heat combining for a 60% reduction in stock.

Jean-Marc Roulot opening bottles for our tasting

Jean-Marc Roulot and Ron

Rajat Parr and Jean-Marc

The results of the tastings will be covered in a subsequent post.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme