Latricieres-Chambertin

Excellent mid-purple, this offers a lovely mouthful of pure, plump cherry and dark raspberry fruit; very modish again, the hallmark this year. Poised and long, the wine has excellent oak integration.

Nicolas and David Rossignol began the harvest on 22nd September, picking over eight days. Yields were up, the grapes were ripe, but some sorting was necessary after a little hail in Beaune and some Suzukiengendered rot in the lower vineyards of Gevrey-Chambertin. They are very pleased with their new Pellenc de-stemmer which leaves the berries intact, while continuing to use a percentage of whole bunches as well.

Rossignol-Trapets Latricires is beautifully balanced this year and is also very stylish, with luxurious soft fruit underpinned by a firm tannic finish.

Burgundy 2011 En Primeur Best Buys - Grand Crus
Near to Clos de la Roche, this has a real intensity of rich fruit sweetness and a huge amount of Grand Cru finesse in each glass. Perfumed and full of promise, the tannin, texture, structure and acidity are perfectly balanced right through the long finish.
Laura Atkinson, Private Account Manager

Very perfumed on the nose this year and quite sensual, it is a fine result. 50% stems offer roses and graceful red fruit on a very suave palate with several layers of fruit and a lingering finish.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director

The early growing season in 2011 was beneficial to ripening the stems, so Nicolas and David Rossignol opted to use more this year, as they also did in 2009. The wines below were made with 25% stems in general and up to 50% for the Grand Crus. This will have influenced the structure of the wines, but it does not show in the fruit profile. The Rossignols continue to develop their style towards finesse, especially in the finish of their wines and these show very good result this year.

As usual, from a combination of contract grapes and purchased wine (with the same sources here since 2003), the Camille Giroud 2008 Latricieres-Chambertin presents peat and black pepper, crushed stone, and ripe, lightly-cooked cherry in a lovely nose, rich yet tart palate impression, with a pungently smoky, peppery, and stony finish.

It lacks the sweetness and charm of the Charmes but its formidable density and grip backed by abundant fine-grained tannin suggests a wine worth forgetting in the cellar for a few years and that should hold up well for 12-15.
David Schildknecht - Wine Advocate - eRobertParker.com - Jun 2010

This Latricires-Chambertin Grand Cru from Domaine Rossignol-Trapet has beautiful, elegant, deep red fruit and is very graceful and subtle. The fine fruit stretches all the way to a lovely finish with an amazingly perfumed aftertaste.

With a rich purple colour, this has a firm, concentrated nose. Then it swells incredibly on the palate, unbelievably dense and plump yet with a great line, really long. Yes, please. There is a wonderful wealth of fruit to this, a glamorous sense of luxury but it’s very stylish. There is plenty of purple fruit, black cherries and a good natural acid balance. Drink 2025-2035.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

Nicolas and David Rossignol report a healthy crop in quality and quantity, though a little reduced in the Grands Crus. They began on 7th September, using around 50 percent whole bunches, and avoided any punching down during vinification as there was no need to search for extraction, preferring a daily pumping-over and aeration. As ever there is only a modest use of new oak and sulphur levels are kept low. They have made unquestionably brilliant wines this year.

After losing 50 percent to frost, this was harvested relatively late to get full ripeness. Even with the high sugars, the brothers chaptalized a little to extend the fermentation, and it is their belief that their biodynamic culture has maintained the freshness throughout. There is 50 percent whole-bunch and a gorgeous perfume of violet and black cherry. Drink 2025-2035.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

The domaine was created through the marriage of Jacques Rossignol of Volnay with Mado Trapet from a noted family in Gevrey-Chambertin. Their sons Nicolas and David Rossignol have managed the domaine since 1990, moving subsequently to biodynamic farming. The first experiments started in 1997 with their Chapelle- Chambertin, followed by conversion of the whole domaine in 2004. Vinification includes a small proportion of whole bunches, while the trend in recent years has been to look for an increasingly elegant expression of Pinot Noir. It’s a remarkable cellar this year, with brothers Nicolas and David radiating calm and understanding. As elsewhere, this was a very challenging vintage for them, especially in Beaune, the village Gevrey vines and Le Chambertin. Containing the mildew required an incredible amount of work by hand. Their biodynamic strategy seems to have paid off though; after a slow start to the range, the impression was of incremental qualities. Intensity, not density. Nicolas and David referred us to Nono, Love and the Soil by Gaston Roupnel, a novelist born in Gevrey.

A charming, deep pink-purple colour with lovely stylish cherry and raspberry fruit. The class shows throughout here, with good weight. It is pretty and discreet, then many-layered and almost ethereal this year. Very persistent.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

Quantities were down a further 15% on the previous two vintages. However Nicolas Rossignol reports that there were no problems in vinification, and they have added a further refinement this year with a new state-of-theart de-stemmer, which leaves the individual berries whole as it takes them off their stems. Given the natural concentration of the fruit in 2012, there was no need to seek much extraction. Once again this domaine offers superb quality at reasonable prices.