1998 Joseph Roty Gevrey-Chambertin Cuvee La Brunelle

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.”

Côte de Nuits is the northern part of the Côte d’Or and it includes the most famous vineyards and wine communes in the world. There are more Grand Cru appellations in the Côte de Nuits than anywhere else in Burgundy. Of the fourteen communes, or villages in the Côte de Nuits, six produce Grand Cru wines. They are Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St.-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Flagey-Échezeaux and Vosne-Romanee. Some of the vineyards within the Côte de Nuits are tiny, which adds to their prestige. The fabled Grand Cru vineyard La Romanee is barely two square acres. Altogether there are twenty-four Grand Cru vineyards. The region takes its name from the village of Nuits-Saint-Georges. Côtes de Nuits produces mostly reds from Pinot Noir, and the wines have been in demand for centuries. During the 18th century King Louis XIV’s physician recommended that for his health the king only drink wines from Nuits-Saint-Georges. Like most of Burgundy, the soils of the Côte de Nuit can vary greatly from one vineyard to another, though most are a base soil of limestone mixed with clay, gravel and sand.

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.