2015 Domaine Marc Roy, Gevrey-Chambertin, Vieilles Vignes, Red Burgundy, France.
Vigneron Alexandrine Roy, who leads the highly regarded Domaine Marc Roy in Gevrey-Chambertin, is one of my favorite winemakers in Burgundy and it was a nice treat to have her fabulous 2015 Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes. This deep and pure Pinot was tasted recently at a special blind tasting of Burgundy wines, where it showed extremely well and was one of the wines of the night. The deep garnet/ruby old vines Gevrey-Chambertin, from a concentrated and complex vintage, shows off loads of depth, warm ripeness and personality with dark berry, black cherry and reduced plum fruits leading the way on a rich medium bodied palate, along with mineral tones, crushed flowers, a touch of smoke, subtle wood, earthy truffle, orange tea, and fig. Alexandrine used all de-stemmed grapes here with native yeast, employing a very gentile winemaking style and it’s raised in traditional small barrique, about 30% new in this and most vintages, then bottled unfined and unfiltered that all showcases her desire for graceful textural wines and with transparent elegance, which is readily apparent in this beauty. Roy does a very limited selection of bottlings that includes her gorgeous Gevrey-Chambertin Pinot Noirs from mostly special Lieu-Dits, like her La Justice and Clos Prieur efforts, as well as this Vieilles Vignes (Old Vine), which as I’m sure you can tell is one of my favorites, along with a delicious Marsannay Blanc.
In October of 2015 Alexandrine Roy of Domaine Marc visited San Francisco and showed off her beautiful 2014 Gevrey’s, these were preview barrel samples that gave great insight into the vintage and showcased Roy’s gifts as a winemaker, and again I met up with her in the City in 2018 and tasted through her 2018s, in was a great pleasure to meet her and taste through her outstanding wines. So it was a thrill to get a chance, as mentioned, to blind taste this gorgeous and perfectly maturing 2015 old vine Gevrey-Chambertin, which absolutely impressed all that tasted it and (it) looks to have another 15 to 20 years left. As mentioned before, Alexandrine Roy is a 4th generation vigneron, and the current matriarch of the Roy family, she farms old vine parcels in Gevrey-Chambertin and the Marsannay parcel, where she does an excellent steely Chardonnay from, employing organic practices and is ever searching for perfection. This is a tiny domaine, according to her importer Skurnik, that includes just four hectares that are meticulously cared for as if it was Alexandrine’s personal garden. Alexandrine knows her vineyards (many of which are more than 100 years old) very well, as she’s basically grew up in them, and they are a reflection of her soul and they have roots that are dug deep into the classic shallow limestone soils. Roy’s mission is to show off the terroir through in her wines, something I can say she does exceptionally well, and I highly recommend chasing down her wines. While this 2015 vintage might be hard to find, I suggest looking for the current releases.
($100 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive