Ruchottes Chambertin – Michel Bonnefond & Christophe Roumier
“The 2009 Ruchottes-Chambertin is impossibly elegant. The wine literally floats on the palate with dazzling brilliance in its fruit and gorgeous, well-delineated aromatics. All of the elements build towards the textured, mouth-coating finish. This is another stunning wine from Roumier.” – 94/100, Antonio Galoni, The Wine Advocate
Domaine Georges Roumier needs no introduction for the wine aficionado, the domain has been known for decades for high-quality wines based on pinot noir from notorious vineyards such as Musigny, Bonnes Mares, Chambolle-Musigny 'les Amoureuses' and the Monopole vineyard in Morey-Saint-Denis , 'Clos de la Bussiere'.
Georges founded the domain in 1924 and started leasing several vineyards, including a part of the legendary Musigny vineyard. The domain is steadily expanded and in 1961 son Jean-Marie takes over the reins. Since then, the domain's reputation has grown steadily.
When the Thomas-Bassot domain comes on the market in 1977, Charles Rousseau (Domaine Armand Rousseau) and Georges Mugneret (today's Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg) buy part of the Ruchottes-Chambertin vineyard. The last part - just 0.54 hectares - of the Ruchottes vineyard of the defunct Thomas-Bassot, is bought by Michel Bonnefond, a great wine lover and businessman from Rouen.
Adviced by Charles Rousseau, Bonnefond contacts Jean-Marie Roumier to manage his vineyard. The two conclude a 'metayage' agreement whereby the vineyard is exploited by Roumier, but remains in the possession of Bonnefond.
The current winemaker, Christophe Roumier – grandson of Georges and son of Jean-Marie – definitely put the domain on the map when he joined his father in the vineyards and cellar in the early 1980s. His focus is more on expression of the terroir and the wines are purer than before. The latter is partly due to the sparing use of new wooden barrels in the vinification and aging of the wines.
The Ruchottes-Chambertin, located in Gevrey-Chambertin, is also a very fine expression of this terroir. Christophe himself finds it a perfect harmony between the weight and richness of a wine from the Gevrey and the finesse of a wine from the Chambolle.
Due to the agreement between Roumier and Bonnefond, the wine is marketed under 2 different labels, but it is essentially the same wine, made by Roumier. Of the very limited yield, part is labeled Ruchottes-Chambertin by Michel Bonnefond and part as Ruchottes-Chambertin by Christophe Roumier.
Both labels are very rare and sought after on the international wine market. Therefore, we are delighted to be able to offer 5 lots of this wine in the upcoming auction: lots 1191 – 1194 (Michel Bonnefond) & lot 1195 (Christophe Roumier)