2009 Clos de la Roche

The 2009 Clos de la Roche is drop-dead gorgeous. It shows remarkable depth and polish in its elegant, impeccable bouquet and harmonious, layered fruit. This is all finesse, all the way. My notes read: extraordinary! Anticipated maturity: 2019-2034. These wines from proprietor Mounir Saouma are impressive. Saouma sources small lots of wine from the best sites in Burgundy and does all of the post-alcoholic fermentation elevage in his cellar in Beaune. Saouma’s approach calls for long, slow malos, extended contact on the gross lees and no fining or filtration prior to bottling. Saouma bottles an eye-popping 60 different wines, some sourced from more than one grower. Count me as a fervent believer in terroir. As much as I subscribe to the belief that specific plots of land can confer unique qualities to wines, the reality is that a variety of other factors are just as important, including the talent of the winemaker and the ambient qualities of the cellars in which wines are raised. What amazes me most about these wines – aside from the obviously very high quality – is that there is without question a distinctive house style that emerges across the range, despite the fact that they come from different sources and are acquired as wine rather than fruit. Saouma likes to describe his cellar as a library of Burgundy’s finest terroirs. That’s as good a description as any for these uniformly outstanding, compelling wines. Importer: Vintus LLC, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (914) 769-3000, Atherton Imports, Menlo Park, CA; tel. (650) 328-6639

Full red. More primary on the nose than the Clos Saint-Denis, offering complex aromas of dark fruits, mocha, spices, crushed rock, espresso and black olive; more Gevrey-like. Then extremely unevolved in the mouth, with darker fruit character than the Clos Saint-Denis and terrific verve. A powerfully structured, very long wine with a salty impression of extract and building tannins.

The 2009 Clos de la Roche is drop-dead gorgeous. It shows remarkable depth and polish in its elegant, impeccable bouquet and harmonious, layered fruit. This is all finesse, all the way. My notes read: extraordinary! Anticipated maturity: 2019-2034. ||These wines from proprietor Mounir Saouma are impressive. Saouma sources small lots of wine from the best sites in Burgundy and does all of the post-alcoholic fermentation elevage in his cellar in Beaune. Saouma’s approach calls for long, slow malos, extended contact on the gross lees and no fining or filtration prior to bottling. Saouma bottles an eye-popping 60 different wines, some sourced from more than one grower. Count me as a fervent believer in terroir. As much as I subscribe to the belief that specific plots of land can confer unique qualities to wines, the reality is that a variety of other factors are just as important, including the talent of the winemaker and the ambient qualities of the cellars in which wines are raised. What amazes me most about these wines – aside from the obviously very high quality – is that there is without question a distinctive house style that emerges across the range, despite the fact that they come from different sources and are acquired as wine rather than fruit. Saouma likes to describe his cellar as a library of Burgundy’s finest terroirs. That’s as good a description as any for these uniformly outstanding, compelling wines. Wine Advocate.May, 2011