2002 Domaine J. Truchot-Martin Clos de la Roche 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.

Clos de la Roche is a 41-acre Grand Cru vineyard in the Morey St.-Denis appellation in the Cotes de Nuits, in northern Burgundy. The tiny village of Morey St.-Denis is just south of Gevrey-Chambertin and Clos de Roche is considered the appellation’s most superior Grand Cru. The vineyard’s elevation ranges from 270 to 300 meters, and its soil is extremely rocky with excellent drainage. The soil is largely limestone, and in some places it is barely a foot deep. Writer Clive Coates calls Clos de Roche “the classiest of the Morey Grand Crus.” The largest landholders are Ponsot with 8.35 acres; Dujac, 4.88 acres; and Armand Rousseau, 3.7 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.