1985 Joseph Roty Mazy-Chambertin

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.”

Mazis-Chambertin is a 22.4 acre Grand Cru vineyard near the village of Gevrey-Chambertin. The name Mazis is sometimes spelled with a “y” or without the final “s.” The soil is shallow and somewhat rocky, and the wine made from this vineyard is considered excellent. The legendary Lalou Bize of Maison Leroy is one of the smaller landholders with about .6 of an acre. There are some 30 proprietors with parcels in Mazis-Chambertin. The largest are Hospices de Beaune, with 4.38 acres; Bernard Dugat-Py, with 3.05 acres; and Joseph Faiveley, with 3 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.