Domaine Armand ROUSSEAU -- 2013s from Cask

Domaine Armand ROUSSEAU et Fils (Gevrey-Chambertin)

2013s from Cask

Harvesting here began on October. Yields were fairly normal. About 5-10% of the stems were used in these wines. The wines had all finished malolactic fermentation and been racked when I tasted them on October 31.

2013 Gevrey-Chambertin

This wine is smooth, supple, and pure with red berry fruit and very good harmony. (89-92)

2013 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru – Lavaux Saint-Jacques

The Lavaux Saint-Jacques is very elegant and light on the palate, but it is not as focused today as the village Gevrey and difficult to judge at this time. (NR)

2013 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru – Les Cazetiers

The Cazetiers has the dark fruit and slight animality that is typical of the vineyard. The mouth shows good structure with liveliness, a supple texture, dark berry fruit, and overall harmoniousness. (90-93)

2013 Charmes-Chambertin

Rousseau’s Charmes-Chambertin is round and smooth with dark fruit and some tannin. The wine lacks a little depth and is rustic compared to the preceding wines, but still is a good effort. (90-93)

2013 Mazy-Chambertin

The Mazy-Chambertin has dark fruit and is succulent with good intensity. The wine is light on the palate. (90-94)

2013 Clos de la Roche

The Clos de la Roche is stony with succulent red currant fruit. The wine has a lovely texture and is light on the palate and shows the overall finesse of the vintage. This is the first of these wines to have some new oak on it – 10%. (91-94)

2013 Ruchottes-Chambertin   Clos des Ruchottes

This wine is less nervy than usual with red currant and pomegranate fruit and some tannins for structure. 20% new oak here. (91-94)

2013 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru – Clos Saint-Jacques

Although the wine shows some calmness, the Gevrey wildness of fruit is here with red currants, good length, and lightness on the palate. 80% new oak on this wine. (91-95)

2013 Chambertin-Clos-de-Bèze

The wine shows the musk nose I find typical of Clos-de-Bèze, and Rousseau’s in particular. The mouth is dark and crystalline with more body than the previous wines and very good acidity. We’ve moved up a step here, as usual. 100% new oak on this wine. (93-96)

2013 Chambertin

The Chambertin is the most complete of all the wines with dark fruit, purity, precision, crystallinity, length, density, and elegance. What more could one want? All new oak, as is standard here. (95-98)

2013 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru – Clos Saint-Jacques  “En Saint-Jacques”

This wine was made as an experiment in 2013. Prior to the current owners, only the upper two-thirds of the Clos Saint-Jacques was planted and the wine was known/sold as En Saint-Jacques-Chambertin. One barrel was made from the top third of the vineyard and one from the middle third. I tasted here a blend from those two barrels. It is amazing how different this blend tastes from the regular Clos Saint-Jacques, or all other Clos Saint-Jacques I’ve ever had – from Rousseau and other producers. The wine is dark, powerful and tannic, much closer to Chambertin than to what I’ve known as Clos Saint-Jacques. At the time I tasted this wine, no decision had been made on what to do with it. (93-97)