2012 Gevrey Chambertin Fontenys

Medium red. Aromas of raspberry, black cherry, licorice and smoky minerality. Sweet and fine-grained, showing lovely inner-mouth floral lift to its youthfully imploded flavors of smoked meat, dark cherry and spices. Tighter and less fruity than the old-vines Champs Chenys on the back end, finishing classically dry, backward and long. This will require patience.

Good bright, dark red. Wild, reduced aromas of blueberry and gibier lifted by spicy and floral high notes. Not particularly dense but firm and tightly wound, with a fine-grained texture and considerable complexity to the flavors of raspberry, flowers and smoked meat. Finishes with smooth, pliant tannins and excellent building spiciness.

The 2012 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Fonteny, which sees around 60% new wood, is robed in a deep ruby color. The new oak is dominating the aromatics at present, which makes it difficult discerning the fruit or the terroir. The palate is medium-bodied with good extraction on the entry. This has an attractive supple texture, quite spicy at first then segueing into a lovely fig-tinged finish. That new oak is a little oppressive but I suspect it will meld into the fabric of this wine with 5-6 years bottle age. Domaine Joseph Roty has a reputation for being a little “prickly” towards journalists. I probably would too if I were a winemaker. I guess it must derive from some troubled tete-a-tetes with Clive Coates many years ago and reputation spread. From my own point of view, I have always found the Roty family to be friendly and obliging of any requested visit. It is just that they are not going to lay out the red carpet – and nor should they. They are too busy working out in the vineyard, which means they have their priorities right. As usual, they had lined up samples on a table overlooking their clos of vines outside the family home. Phillipe Roty was indeed out in the vines when I called and so his mother guided me through the wines. She told me that the harvest commenced on 22 or 23 September (she could not remember exactly, but what’s 24 hours between friends?) Like everywhere else, their old vines especially were severely affected by millerandage and there was widespread coulure around Gevrey. All the fruit here is de-stemmed. You might describe the wines as erring towards more modern in style apropos ripeness levels and use of new oak, although they are extremely well crafted and as always, disprove the notion that Marsannay cannot produce great Pinot Noir. Check out Roty’s “Boivin” or “Clos de Jeu” for quite brilliant expression of this village at the northern extreme of the Cote d’Or. Their top crus can be outstanding and the 2012s offer a clutch of delicious, fruit-laden, complex wines from old vines that will age with style and grace. Roty is one of the great names of Gevrey and Philippe Roty and his team continues to quietly produce wines from the top-drawer. Importer: Wine of France (NY) and Atherton Wine Imports (www.awiwine.com) in California. Also Private Cellar, Robert Rolls, Corney & Barrow.