2004 Domaine J. Truchot-Martin Morey-St-Denis Vieilles Vignes

Domaine J. Truchot-Martin was a 15-acre estate with vineyards in three Burgundy appellations: Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey St. Denis and Chambolle-Musigny. Its legendary founder, Jacky Truchot, retired in 2005, selling off his land and shuttering his estate. Yet as the remaining bottles of J. Truchot-Martin diminish every year, the estate’s prestige grows. It was founded in 1978 by Truchot, who had worked 17 years at his cousin’s domaine in Morey-Saint-Denis. He learned winemaking on the job, following the traditional practices of his cousin, Henri Mauffre. When Mauffre died in 1978, his widow sold the estate to Truchot, who added his wife’s maiden name to his new enterprise. Truchot sold his wines mostly in France until the mid-1980s when Peter Weygandt started importing them into the United States. Still, for decades Truchot’s wines remained under the radar of many critics and collectors, partly because Truchot never veered from his preference for making traditional, elegant, graceful wines. Burghound noted that “the wines of Truchot-Martin are a kind of stylistic throwback to older times. There is no artifice here at all…the wines are elegant and pure examples of their type.” When Truchot retired he sold his land to the owner of a neighboring estate, who incorporated Truchot’s vineyards into his own. Truchot kept a small piece of the Les Sorbes premier cru vineyard and bottles a tiny amount from that plot. His wines have become highly sought after by collectors.

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.