Burgundy 2019: Domaine Armand Rousseau wines rated and reviewed

Rousseau Clos de Bèze is a blend of three plots that total 1.42ha. Cyrielle believes the wine shows better in its youth than Chambertin. Both wines, however, are vinified in the same way: destemmed, long maceration, gentle extraction and ageing in new François Frères barrels. The result is sublime: charming in its youth, with accessible, ripe notes of red and black fruits, spice, mineral and game, plus a velvety, dense texture that is firm but not forbidding. This has the substance to last fifty years if cellared well.

The reference standard in Chambertin. This is every bit the equal of the Clos de Bèze, if slightly less approachable young. Blended from four parcels including a cooler section near the southern end and another near the top of the slope, this gives a wine of incredible concentration if a bit reserved initially. Here, ripe berry fruit, a strong mineral/saline edge and a gamey note all emerge with time, and the texture is firm and tightly wound. This should age gracefully for the better part of a century.

In 2019, Rousseau's large 2.2ha parcel of Clos-St-Jacques produced a wine that is decidedly lighter than the Chambertin and Bèze, but nonetheless impressively aromatic, with great depth of bright red and black fruit, floral aromas and a mineral note on the nose. On the palate, the texture is silky and subtle, with great freshness, but also the substance for long ageing.

From a 0.6ha parcel of Cazetiers that lies down-slope from the Bruno Clair holding. The gentle fermentation and ageing in used casks produces a wine with clear, pure fruit, showing a slightly darker character and an important mineral/earthy note. On the palate, there is more flesh and texture than the village offering, but the wine is still silky and approachable.

Rousseau has a half-hectare of old vines in Les Mazis-Bas which have produced a wine with a dark plummy fruit character and a very mineral style, revealing savoury notes of game and earth, which Cyrielle Rousseau attributes to the oolites in the bedrock beneath the site. There is plenty of intensity and grip, as well as a silky velvety richness that is endlessly gratifying.

Produced from three parcels: two in the original Clos de la Roche vineyard and almost 1ha in Les Fremières. Aged in used casks like the producer's Charmes, this has a very different character, with dark, plummy fruit alongside an earthy note on the nose, and a texture that is less firm perhaps, but broader and more full-bodied. Very solid.

This regular Gevrey village was produced in 2019 from a total of seven parcels, most of them to the north, according to Cyrielle Rousseau, as well as a bit of the Premier Cru Clos Prieur, producing what is among my favourite village-level Gevreys. It shows remarkable purity of red fruit and an expressive floral note on the nose, yet despite the tension and tannin on the palate, it is indeed a generous wine.

From a 0.47ha parcel in a terroir which is cooler than Clos-St-Jacques, the destemmed fruit was aged in used casks, giving a vibrant wine, with an expressive, perfumed red fruit nose and a fresh, lively texture that cloaks a wine of true concentration and length. Perfect for mid-term ageing.

The Rousseau Charmes is an assemblage of one-third young vines from Charmes, planted in the reddish, iron-bearing soils, along with two-thirds old vines from Mazoyères, which are planted on lighter, limestone-based soils. In 2019, the blend of the two has lovely, ripe cherry fruit, with floral and spice nuance, but not as much mineral quality and less depth on the palate than some.

This village-level wine is from vines owned by Louis Ng around the château, which he purchased in 2012. This has come a long way since the first vintage in 2013, with a pronounced cherry fruit on the nose, shaded with mineral and earth, then a texture on the palate that grows denser with every vintage.