Domaine Rollin, Pernand-Vergelesses 2015

The Côte de Beaune runs from Ladoix-Serrigny in the north to Cheilly lè Maranges in the south, on the southern escarpment of the Côte d’Or. Beaune is the town at its heart. The most famous wines of the area are white, but many excellent reds are produced.

The soils of the area are predominantly mixtures of clay and limestone of various types, which is excellent for drainage but also retention of water. The hillsides here, split and riven by streams and side-valleys, provide a number of meso- and microclimates as well as various aspects ranging from east-facing to south and south-west facing. The best sites are neither at the top or the bottom of these slopes where the soils are too impoverished or too fertile respectively. More generic wines are produced at the top and bottom of these slopes, with the Premiers Crus and Grand Crus in a band running along the upper middle. Soils with more limestone suit chardonnay more than pinot, hence the number of famous white burgundies produced here.

The climate here is semi-continental, though northerly winds can temper a hot summer while warmer winds from the south can bring warmth. Westerly winds that ultimately originate in the Atlantic can bring rain but at its worst may deliver devastating hail in incredibly localised storms. There is a degree of unpredictability about vintages in Burgundy.

Pinot noir and chardonnay are the two permitted grapes of any significance, though Aligoté is grown occasionally for crisp, mouth-watering whites that are often used to make kir, and some generic Bourgogne or Crémant can be made with pinot blanc, pinot gris and beurrot can be made.

The appellations to be found in the Côte de Beaune are as follows: Ladoix, Pernand-Vergelesses, Aloxe-Corton , Corton, Corton-Charlemagne, Chorey-lès-Beaune, Savigny-lès Beaune, Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, Monthélie, Auxey-Duresses, Saint-Romain, Meursault, Saint-Aubin, Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet, Santenay and Maranges

Côte de Beaune-Villages and Bourgogne-Hautes Côtes de Beaune are also made. The former is solely for red wines and the latter includes some whites as well. Both are mostly from vineyards on the top of the escarpment and some represent good value for early drinking Burgundy.

Côte de Beaune wines are generally lighter than those from the Côte de Nuits. Beaunes are soft and round, Volnays fine and silky. Pommards are the exception: due to more clay in the soil, they can be notably tannic and in need of considerable bottle age. The greatest of all white Burgundies, Le Montrachet, is made here between Chassagne and Puligny.

2015 is an outstanding Burgundy vintage: a warm and dry year that has produced wines with very high levels of ripeness and power, but which remain beautifully balanced and fresh-tasting too. The quality of the grapes was as good as many growers had ever seen. Very small and uniformly ripe berries have ensured a high skin-to-pulp ratio, resulting in superb depth of flavour and supporting structure in both the reds and whites.

Reds: great, powerful and generous What is especially remarkable about the 2015 reds is the high quantity,
and superlative quality, of the tannins: sweet and saturated, they give the wines a rare density and concentration whilst maintaining a soft, velvety and gentle character. Furthermore, the wines appear fresh and not heavy, incomparable with previous warm vintages. The yield was down approximately 15–20% in the Côte de Nuits, and 20–30% in the Côte de Beaune. Alcohols are generally 13–13.5%, with only a handful higher than this. The flavours of these ripe and seductive wines tend towards black cherries, mulberries perhaps, but the palate inevitably finishes with an attractive freshness. Many winemakers used a greater proportion of whole-bunch fermentation in 2015 which imbues the wines with greater vivacity. This technique allows for a naturally extended
pre-fermentation maceration (as the berries are slowly crushed by the weight of grapes in the vat), permitting an intra-cellular
fermentation in the grape berry which extracts increased colour.
Although this method analytically reduces acidity, one perceives wines made in this way as tasting fresher. Many maintain it contributes a rose-like aroma after some development in bottle. The quality and quantity of tannin means these will keep very well.

For whites 2015 is a vintage of ripe wines, some fresh and some powerful, but all very satisfying and balanced. All producers said that the quality of the grapes was one of the best they had ever seen and no sorting was necessary. It was a warm vintage, but not excessively hot like 2003, and the wines are fresher and better balanced than the 2009s. The combination of richness and structure has produced a wonderful vintage which will keep well.

In 2015 almost everything is good, geographically and hierarchically. The advantage of a warm year is that the lesser vineyards on cooler, damper, more clay-rich soils reach an unusually high and attractive level of ripeness. This means you can buy the Bourgognes and village wines with as much confidence as the premiers and grands crus.