Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Domaine G. ROUMIER/Christophe ROUMIER* (Chambolle-Musigny) -- 2016 Tasted from Barrel


Christophe Roumier said that production was the lowest for the estate since 1971, down about 55% from a normal yield. No Bourgogne, Chambolle-Combottes, or Corton-Charlemagne was produced in 2016. He says that he never saw as strong a freeze as in 2016, not even in 1981.

Christophe said that where the vines froze, he feels more concentration in the wine. There was less new wood than usual, but whole clusters were employed, as indicated below. Where the vines froze, there was a smaller proportion of whole clusters than normal because of the very small grapes. In general, whole clusters comprised 30-35% for the village and premier cru wines, 55-60% for the grands crus. 

As I’ve previously mentioned, Christophe has an investor who has purchased about half an hectare of Bonnes-Mares (mostly white soils), bringing the total exploited up to 1.89ha. Additionally, there is is some Échézeaux (0.1311ha) that in the En Orveaux lieu-dit that will begin to be commercialized in 2017 (production in 2016 was too small to permit commercial distribution), and, finally, the sharecropper agreement that had underlain the Charmes-Chambertin has been superseded beginning with 2018, with Christophe getting the full production of the vineyard. The total surface area now exploited is 12.43 hectares. (Continue reading here.)

posted by Claude Kolm has been writing The Fine Wine Review since 1986. At the end of 2014, it switched to a blog in order to allow more timely and in depth information about estates. @ 8:31 AM