Armand Rousseau
Usually mentioned in the same breadth as Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Domaine Leroy, Armand Rousseau has established itself as a legendary producer owning mostly Grand Cru vineyards in Gevrey Chambertin.
Born in 1884 to a family deeply entrenched in the wine trade, Armand Rousseau inherited several plots and the current domaine building, one of the oldest in Gevrey-Chambertin, as part of his wedding in 1909. After acquiring more plots in Charmes-Chambertin, Clos de la Roche and Chambertin in the late 1910s and 1920s, the domaine became one of the first in Burgundy to bottle his own wine. Rousseau’s wines were also amongst the first to hit the shores of the United States after the Prohibition, and his focus on exporting his wine is shared by his son Charles, who took over the reins in 1959 after Armand was unfortunately killed in a car accident. Today, the domaine is run by Charles’s son, Eric, who is also the winemaker.
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Burgundy | 1 | 87-88 (VN) | $818.00 | |||||
Vinous (87-88)Good cherry-red. More complex, riper aromas of black cherry, smoke, meat, mocha and herbs. Sweeter and silkier on the palate; this is a step up in material. The acids here are more successfully integrated. Finishes with good firm tannins and some complexity. |
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Burgundy | 1 | 89-92 (VN) | $1,485.00 | |||||
Vinous (89-92)Good full red. Complex aromas of black raspberry, espresso, mocha and underbrush. Dense, thick and concentrated; a step up in size from the foregoing wines. And yet this big boy shows a lovely restrained sweetness and comes across as round and not especially tannic. Long and lush on the aftertaste. |
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Burgundy | 1 | 89 (VN) | $1,175.00 | |||||
Vinous (89)Medium red. Perfumed, complex nose melds raspberry, fresh rose, musky brown spices, smoke and underbrush. More intense and more primary than the Mazy, with spicy and floral notes combining with the juicy acidity to give the wine very good verve. Finishes longer and riper, with more spicy extract to stand up to the slightly peppery tannins. Shows the sappy character of the year. |
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Burgundy | 1 | 93-95 (WA) | $10,105.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (93-95)The 2013 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru, which will contain some new oak although I tasted from a used barrel, has a tightly knit bouquet that at the moment is less expressive than the Mazis-Chambertin. The palate is crisp and pure, quite tensile, with a spiciness that becomes more prominent toward the fleshy, harmonious finish. Curiously, even from a used barrel the texture feels as if there is some new oak, but that is just the concentration of fruit coming through. Frédéric enthused about this wine and I suspect that it may surpass my expectations once in bottle. |
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Burgundy | 1 | 93 (VN (NM)) | $767.00 | |||||
Vinous - Neal Martin (93)The 2019 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru has a lovely bouquet that has become earthier with bottle age, touches of tea leaf infusing the red berry fruit. The palate has abundant freshness on the entry, a fine lattice of tannins, elegant and understated compared to Rousseau's other cuvées this vintage. Perhaps it has just lost a bit of stuffing on the finish compared to its barrel showing. This is ready to be drunk now and should drink well over the next 15 to 20 years. |
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Burgundy | 1 | 93-95 (VN) | $883.00 | |||||
Vinous (93-95)The 2020 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru has a quintessential nose for this vineyard, quite flamboyant yet still with that Rousseau sense of control and elegance, a melange of red and black fruit, touches of wet stone and undergrowth. The palate is medium-bodied with a supple entry, fine weight and density, veering more towards the red fruit profile with a dash of black pepper on the finish. This was once the weak card in Rousseau's pack. That is the case no longer. |
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Burgundy | 2 | 93-95 (VN) | $856.00 | |||||
Vinous (93-95)The 2021 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru is fragrant, delineated and coiled up at first, although it only takes a few swirls of the glass before it awakens. Crushed stone infuses the red fruit, and hints of oyster shells emerge with time. The palate is medium-bodied and very cohesive, with finely-chiselled tannins and just a little confit red fruit that enlivens the finish, which demonstrates more persistence than the Mazy-Chambertin. Delightful. |
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Burgundy | 1 | - | $824.00 | |||||
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Burgundy | 1 | - | $800.00 | |||||
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Burgundy | 1 | 95 (VN) | $4,295.00 | |||||
Vinous (95)Eric and Charles Rousseau did no wrong in 1993. This 1993 Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Saint-Jacques 1er Cru has blossomed in recent years. Showing some bricking on the rim, it has a captivating bouquet of raspberry, pomegranate, wet limestome and bay leaf, somehow effortless in style. The palate is taut and fresh with impressive focus, not the most powerful that I have encountered but as I commented before, there is a nonchalance about this wine that leaves you hooked. Tasted alongisde the Chambertin at a private dinner in London. |
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Burgundy | 1 | 17.5 (JR) | $1,985.00 | |||||
Jancis Robinson (17.5)Strawberry, dark cherry, lengthy finish and relatively firm tannin. Balanced and elegant but incredibly reticent on the nose and that leaves it too evasive for my preferences. |
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