2006 Gevrey Chambertin Brunelle

The Rotys' hundred cases of 2006 Gevrey-Chambertin La Brunelle really seem to reflect the warmth of its almost hot-house location between the walls behind the family home. Scents and flavors of strawberry, rhubarb, and cherry preserves are tinged with brown spices and white pepper. The almost liqueur-like, confitured aspect of the fruit – along with hints of vanilla and caramel – finds welcome but by no means inharmonious contrast in the tartness of fruit skin and peppery pungency that lend invigoration to the wine's long finish. This should be a gem to follow for at least 6-8 years, but again (as so often in this vintage) it is not one to miss out on young, either. Philippe Roty is among the many growers to assert that under-ripe fruit rather than rot was what really drove his 2006 selection process. "But, hail or no hail, I do a strict triage regardless; and besides" he notes with a laugh, "it hails every year in at least one part of Marsannay." He picked in a relative hurry the last week of September, because "as far as I'm concerned, above 13% potential alcohol you have surmaturite, and that's not good." Besides, like the Mugneret sisters and a considerable number of other top-notch growers, Roty favors routinely – if only slightly – chaptalizing his entire range to promote longer and, he believes, flavor- and texture-enhancing fermentation. (While I have mentioned in the text of my tasting notes those wines that are part of the personal domaine of Philippe Roty and bottled under his name, I have not reflected this in the naming of the wines, as the same label is used for those as for the Domaine Joseph Roty wines and they are all vinified and aged together by the same team.) Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173