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). 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. The cuvée is named for the Roy family who once owned the key parcel. 13% ABV.