1998 Joseph Roty Charmes-Chambertin Tres Vieilles Vignes

Domaine Joseph Roty is a 25-acre estate in Gevrey-Chambertin, in Burgundy. The Roty family has made wine in the area since the early 18th century, and the estate is now run by Philippe, Joseph’s son, with help from other family members. The estate’s Charmes Chambertin and Mazis Chambertin are its signature Grand Crus, and Robert M. Parker Jr. has written that those two Roty wines “can be virtually perfect in top years.” The estate also makes premier cru and villages wines. Burgundy expert Clive Coates notes that Roty’s wines “are very distinctive. They are full, very intense, very perfumed and very harmonious. They are certainly immensely seductive.”

Charmes-Chambertin is a 78-acre Grand Cru vineyard in Gevrey-Chambertin that traditionally includes the acreage of nearby Mazoyeres-Chambertin. For nearly 200 years the growers of Mazoyeres have been legally allowed to sell their wines under the more famous name of Charmes-Chambertin, and virtually all of them do. Charmes-Chambertin is the largest of the Gevrey-Chambertin Grand Crus, and it generally has an excellent reputation. The slope of the vineyard is gentle and the surface soil poor. But producers including Joseph Roty, Christian Serafin, Domaine Dujac, Faiveley and Joseph Drouhin are acclaimed for their Charmes Chambertin. Principal landholders are Camus, with 14.75 acres; Perrot-Minot, 4 acres; and Armand Rousseau, 3.5 acres.

This red wine is relatively light and can pair with a wide variety of foods. The grape prefers cooler climates and the wine is most often associated with Burgundy, Champagne and the U.S. west coast. Regional differences make it nearly as fickle as it is flexible.