Chambertin・Armand Rousseau・2017

One of Burgundy's greatest producers

Armand Rousseau is one of the greatest Domaines in Burgundy. You can't talk about Gevrey-Chambertin without mentioning Rousseau. In the early 18th century in Burgundy, unscrupulous traders were rampant with fraudulent blends. In the 1930s, Armand Rousseau formed an organization with d'Angerville, Gouges, Grivot, and others to realize the original bottling, which was considered taboo in commercial practice, in 1915. He quickly stopped selling in barrels to traders, and made a great contribution to improving the quality of Burgundy wine. Charles, the second generation, expanded the vineyards owned by the domain from 6 hectares in 1959 to 14 hectares. Today, Armand's grandson Eric manages the vineyards and cellars.

More than half of the vineyards owned are Grand Cru! Grown with reduced pesticides
The wonderful thing is that 8ha, more than half of the land area, is Grand Cru. For Domaine Armand Rousseau, winemaking is "not about expressing the characteristics of the appellation, but about the soil speaking to us." As if to embody this saying, they have not used fertilizer for 20 years, relying on the natural power of the soil. A few years ago they switched to lutte raisonnée, and they use traditional pesticides such as Bordeaux mixture and sulfur. Yields are kept to 25-35hl/ha by annual bud and bunch removal. They are known for harvesting earlier than other winemakers, and harvest when the grapes are ripe and have the best aroma and flavor.

Style is not something to aim for, it is something the terroir gives us
The work in the cellar has remained almost the same since the old days. Basically, 90% of the grapes are destemmed, and the temperature is lowered to 15 degrees before fermentation begins. Fermentation and maceration take place for 18 to 20 days at a maximum temperature of 30 to 35 degrees. Both pigeage and remontage are performed. After that, the grapes are transferred to barrels, and a fixed ratio of new barrels is used for each wine. 100% new barrels are used for Chambertin and Clos de Bèze. The other Grand Cru vineyards are used depending on the characteristics of the wine. Depending on the year, the color may be pale, but it is said that the true terroir can be expressed by leaving the extraction to nature. "Burgundy wines are wines that combine power, complexity, finesse and nobility. Each wine produced from its own terroir has its own personality, and is only revealed to those who understand and love it. Style is not something to aim for, it is given by the terroir.