Domaine Guy Roulot, Bourgogne - Blanc 2015

85-87 / 100 Robert Parker
The 2015 Bourgogne Blanc has a well-defined green apple, cucumber and peach skin bouquet that takes a little while to open in the glass. The palate is quite sharp on the entry with a chalky texture, hints of bitter lemon and green apple towards the brisk finish. Fine, even if it is not a patch on the 2014 last year. There was a new face at Domaine Guy Roulot when I visited in mid-February, that of winemaker David Croix alongside Jean-Marc Roulot. As I had reported earlier this year, Jean-Marc was seeking more a "right-hand man" rather than somebody to take over the running of the domaine, since his other successful career as an actor (new film out later this year) takes him away from the daily running of the winery. David was a perfect fit and enables him to keep his own Domaine des Croix in operation, though David has relinquished his position at Camille-Giroud (see my December 2015 report). I asked Jean-Marc about the 2015 vintage. "I was afraid we would have another 2003, but we had 60 millimeters of rain in June and then nothing for 45 days. This 60 millimeters saved the vintage for me. The pressure of disease was not high: we had very healthy grapes and the quality was exceptional. With this kind of weather, you have thick skins. The taste reminded me of 2012. We started picking on 27 August. There was a storm in Tuesday 2 September. On the Monday, I had heard about it, but we didn't know from where it was coming, so I harvested Tessons, Charmes and Perrières, as I was afraid of the storm. Fortunately by that time most of the major work in the vines had been done. Vineyards such as Luchets, Les Virieuls and the Aligoté were picked after the storm. Everything was matured in barrel until September [2016] and racked before the harvest, then transferred into stainless steel." I asked Jean-Marc how he perceives the style of 2015. "It was difficult to press," he answered, "so for me it is between 2012 and 2009 in terms of the solar aspect. But there is more energy than we had in 2009." Some of Jean-Marc's 2015 were about to be bottled and others yet to be fined, determined by a blind tasting of the cuvées in December. One other point to mention is the retirement of his Meursault Les Tillets, whose vines had degenerated to a point where it is no longer productive and were consequently pulled out after the 2015 harvest. "A lot of vines were planted in the 1950s and 1960s, so I was lucky when I started in 1989," Jean-Marc told me. "I replanted a lot of Bourgogne Blanc in the 1990s." With respect to his 2015s, this was a good crop of wines, although like many others, the warmth of the growing season denuded them of the detail, that spark that defines the 2014s. They were certainly consistent and so I must apologize for the uniformity of my scores... that is just how they turned out. I felt as if Jean-Marc's talent pushed quality up, whilst the warmth of the growing season pushed them down, to reach a kind of equilibrium. That said, certainly with the appointment of David Croix, interesting times lie ahead for the domaine.
230, The Wine Advocate

86-89 / 100 Allen Meadow
Moderate reduction presently dominates the fruit though there is good freshness and verve to the unusually refined flavors relative to what is typical for the genre, all wrapped in a notably more complex finish. This is worth considering.
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