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Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Estournelles St-Jacques Domaine Philippe Rossignol 2017 DE
Tasting Notes: The Premier Cru Estournelles St-Jacques is in the northern end of the appellation on one of the highest parts of the slope. This wine was aged in barrel, and it shows; the bright ... fruit is bracketed with firm structure and “grip.” It will keep for decades in a cool, dark cellar - decant when young. Read More
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Philippe Rossignol’s grandfather owned vines in Brochon, but they were sold when he died. His father owned a wheat farm not far from Gevrey, but Philippe never inherited vines. He was nineteen years old when he acquired two hectares in Brochon, and established his small domaine soon after he married Dominique Roty, the sister of Joseph Roty, who helped him select the best parcels of vine he could afford to buy. Over the years, Philippe built the estate piece by piece, once selling a hectare of Brochon to a developer, and using the proceeds to buy half a hectare in Les Corbeaux adjacent to Faiveley’s Mazis-Chambertin. In the nineteen eighties and nineties, almost half of Philippe’s production was imported by Kermit Lynch, one of the pioneer distributors of small-grower, estate-bottled Burgundy. But the relationship ended in 1998. Today the estate extends over seven hectares in thirty parcels. The grapes are hand-harvested, and in most vintages are destemmed, and the wines ferment in stainless steel, with malolactic in tank, except for about 30% of the wines that mature in new barrels. Philippe is profoundly allergic to sulfur, so he uses as little as possible, and the wines are bottled after about 20 months in barrel.
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Viticulture in Burgundy was well established by the second century AD, and likely predates the arrival of the Romans. By the late Middle Ages, the influence of the monastic orders had organized wine growing in Burgundy as nowhere else in Europe. It was the monks who recognized that certain individual vineyards consistently produced distinctive wine. Land reform came with the French Revolution, and the Code Napoléon abolished primogeniture, establishing that all inherited property be shared equally among siblings. As a result, the ownership of many of the finest vineyards is fragmented, with some growers owning just a few vines in many different vineyard sites. Gevrey-Chambertin, is the largest source of wine in the Côte d’Or, with nearly 1200 acres under vine. Some of the most famous Grand Cru of Burgundy are located with this town’s boundaries.
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The Pinot Noir grape is an ancient variety that has been grown for nearly two-thousand years in Burgundy, and is also famous for producing high-quality red wines around the world. This variety is known as being difficult to farm, due to its sensitivity to climatic conditions, such as wind and frost. The thin skins and tight conical grape bunches of Pinot Noir also make it susceptible to fungus and mildew. Some of the finest Pinot Noir wines are produced in cooler climate areas, and are characterized by a light body and complex aromas of earthiness and fruit.
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Roasted chickens, game birds, beef roasts, and filet mignon have all been wonderful with this wine.