Coeur de Roy

The 1999 release of Cœur de Roy, Bernard Dugat-Py's village-level Gevrey-Chambertin cuvée from very old vines. In 1999 the only "Cœur de Roy" was the Très Vieilles Vignes bottling (the separate Bourgogne Cœur de Roy appeared as a distinct cuvée later). The cuvée is named for the Roy family who once owned the key parcel.

Three Gevrey-Chambertin lieux-dits feed the blend - Les Epointures (~1 ha of roughly eighty-year-old vines), Combe du Dessus, and Les Marchais, plus a couple of smaller plots. The oldest block, in Combe du Dessus, dates to 1910.

Hand-harvest, native-yeast fermentation, sixteen to eighteen months in oak barriques with a high proportion of new wood. The 1990s Bernard signature was dense, powerful, and extractive, which is what to expect from this bottle.