In today’s world, we are often seeking out what is new and exciting, the youngest winemaker, the up-and-coming region, but sometimes it can be worth it to stop and look back to those who have chosen to live by the phrase ‘don’t fix what isn’t broken.’ Enter Domaine Joseph Roty: one of the oldest winemaking families in Gevrey-Chambertin. 

The family has been in Gevrey since 1710 they have owned and farmed vines since 1817. Today, Pierre-Jean Roty represents the 11^th generation of Rotys in Gevrey. Struck with tragedy in the start of this century with Joseph Roty passing away in 2008 and his son, Philippe passing just a few years later after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Pierre-Jean had been working with his brother and father since 2001 and officially took the reins in 2015 after his brother’s untimely death. Even though there have been many changes in leadership at the domaine, the style of winemaking hasn’t changed much at all. The family continues to work in the vineyards and winery according to the lunar cycle, but admittedly their own version, where they haven’t disclosed what those changes entail. Similarly, many will note that the family tends to provide different answers to the same technical questions which we can only deduce is because they want to keep some of their methods a secret. Additionally, the wines partake in extended cold maceration, with fermentation at cool temperatures providing the wines with a floral element. The family has never used pesticides or chemical fertilizers and prune their vines very short. Historically there has always been a strong use of barrel aging, that added with the old vines, ends with wines built to age.  

On top of their large quantity of parcels in Gevrey and Marsannay that are almost all bottled separately, the Roty’s have some of the oldest vines in Burgundy with the average age of all their holdings being about 65 years old. The most notable old vine holding they have is Charmes-Chambertin where the vines date back to 1881 and 1882 having been replanted just after Phylloxera, with over 100 years of age the Roty’s label this bottling ‘Tres Vieilles Vignes’ or ‘really old vines.’ We are excited to offer two different vintages of this wine for you today!

I was lucky enough to go and taste at this very visitor-shy domaine back in February 2020 with Pierre-Jean. I have distinct memories of entering a very chilled garage-like barrel room off the back of the family home. We tasted through the entire lineup of the 2017 vintage with a visit from Madame Roty partway through who welcomed us with a large plate of freshly baked gougeres. Pierre-Jean said he did not know much English and therefore went through the tasting through understanding winemaking terms in French, and a little google translate. I found out years later that Pierre-Jean speaks a lot more English then he let on that evening during our tasting, but nonetheless he continued to show the quirky. tendencies of the family. There is a passion I felt as he spoke about the choice to make some many separate bottlings, choosing to highlight small vineyard sites at the regional and village levels over making a greater blend. This devotion to honoring terroir can be seen so clearly as their wines are made in relatively similar styles yet each bottle speaks strongly for itself.

In addition to not making too many changes in the vineyards and winemaking style, the prices have stayed fairly stable throughout the years as well, something I cannot say as often as I wish I could. We are excited to showcase a range of wines from 2014 through today from Marsannay, Cote de Nuits-Villages, and Gevrey-Chambertin!

-Hanna Krilov 

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