DOMAINE DE CHASSORNEY
Saint Romain Sous Roche 2020
Burgundy, France
From fifty year old vines of Pinot Noir planted in one of the steepest, shallowest parts of Saint Romain. True to site, despite the warm vintage this impresses with dark brambly fruit, chalky minerals and soft supple tannins. A great example of just how good the wines can be from this terroir in one of the region’s unsung appellations.
Pinot Noir
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Frédéric Cossard is a larger than life character. He is a man with an infectious joie de vivre and a love of wine that runs deep. Fred wasn’t born into a family of vignerons and instead had to start from scratch, no mean feat in Burgundy.
His Domaine de Chassorney was born in 1996 with a few hectares of vines rented in Saint-Romain and Auxey-Duresses and now comprises ten hectares of vines across several villages. He and his wife Laure also act as a négociants, which gives them access to grapes from some of the greatest vineyards in Burgundy. These wines are bottled eponymously, as ‘Frédéric Cossard’.
The Cossards have worked organically from the outset and now focus on homeopathic treatments and remedies tailored to the needs of each site. When fruit is bought, they give the growers a guide for looking after the vines and ensure that work is carried out to their own lofty standards. In doing so they ensure that only the most pristine fruit makes it to their cellars tucked away in the hills of Saint-Romain.
Such scrutiny is necessary to make great wine with no additions. In recent years Fred has continued to pave the way by eschewing the use of oak barrels in favour of concrete eggs, earthenware jars and Georgian qvevris in a quest to further refine his wines. Whites are pressed directly, while reds infuse as whole bunches before being pressed off to these vessels for élevage. The result is Burgundy of rare liveliness, purity and detail.