iDealwine update: Thirsty work pays off

A recent online auction from a pair of collectors concentrated on examples from Coche-Dury and Domaine George Roumier. Here, we put Roumier under the spotlight.

THE THIRST for Côte de Nuits never seems to slow down. After the record price registered on iDealwine for a single bottle in the online auction closed 15 November (a 2000 Romanée-Conti sold for €17,146, or £15,095), many of the other top domaines are hitting new heights. This is certainly the case for wines from Domaine Georges Roumier.

The online auction that closed on 22 November was peculiar in that all the wines featured came from a single collection. It belonged to a couple of wine enthusiasts, whose passion covered a large array of wine regions but with a strong penchant for Burgundy. Their collection was dominated by great signatures from Coche-Dury in white, and Roumier in red, two domaines they had discovered in the 1970s. Since then, they have never stopped buying wines from these domaines. In recent months, they had decided to auction part of their cellar and sell some bottles to keep exploring the world of fine wines and enlarge further their range of appellations and producers. They entrusted iDealwine to take care of some of their gems, among which there was a series of mythical wines from Domaine Georges Roumier.

When he married in 1924, Georges Roumier received a few parcels from the dowry of his wife, Geneviève Quanquin. A few years later, he took the reins of his family-in-law’s vineyard, which he then extended over several plots from Chambolle-Musigny and Bonnes-Mares.
The end of World War II marked the real expansion of the domaine and the establishment and recognition of the quality of its wines. In 1945, Georges Roumier started bottling. He enlarged the vineyard by buying several parcels in Bonnes-Mares and Clos Vougeot, and in
1953 he acquired a 2.5-hectare monopoly, the 1er cru Clos de la Bussière in MoreySaint-Denis. One of his seven children, Jean-Marie, took over from his father in 1961, and extended the vineyard with plots from Corton-Charlemagne and Musigny.

auction update – sponsored by iDealwine

iDealwine average auction prices from 2013 to 2017 for selected wines from Georges Roumier

Source: iDealwine

Since 1982, the talented Christophe Roumier, who studied oenology in Dijon, has managed the domaine that was so diligently put together by his father, JeanMarie, and his grandfather. It has become one of the most popular wines in Burgundy, especially for its Musigny and Chambolle 1er cru Les Amoureuses.

Today, the vineyard covers 11.8ha in total, and includes parcels that are undoubtedly some of the most emblematic from the Côte de Nuits. Two cuvées, CharmesChambertin and Ruchottes-Chambertin, come from parcels in metayage (sharecropping), and are labelled
‘Christophe Roumier’. However, they have received the same attention from the team at Domaine Georges Roumier.

The viticulture is conducted with a minimal use of fertilizers or herbicides, and the grapes are harvested when perfectly ripened after meticulous sorting and partial destemming. Ageing lasts on average between 15 and 18 months.

One of the pearls of the Domaine Georges Roumier is its Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses; it probably bears one of the most beautiful and poetic names of Burgundy, which has certainly helped build its reputation.

QUALITY OF WINE
But this climat is above all the most sought-after of the 24 premier cru of Chambolle for the quality of the wines it produces. Located under Musigny, the 0.4ha plot was planted in three stages, in 1954, 1966 and 1971. It produces wines that display complex floral aromas. The winemaking talents of Georges, then today Christophe, make it a great out-of-the-ordinary vineyard, a summit of finesse that will leave no indifferent tasters. The palate is silky, delicate and precise. It is a mythical wine that requires 10 years before opening, at least. In the November auction, a lot of three bottles of this premier cru from the 1978 vintage was bought by a Hong Kong buyer for €8,998, up by 15% on its previous listing. Several bottles of the 1990 vintage of this acclaimed wine, which is so popular in Asia, were also sold to a Hong Kong buyer for €2,128 per bottle (up by 28% compared with its average auction price). The week before, the 1999 reached €1,885 ( up by 38%), sold to a French wine lover.

Between Morey-Saint-Denis and Chambolle, Bonnes-Mares produces some of the most concentrated and imposing wines of Burgundy. The wines are aged with about 40% new oak and bottled without filtration. They are incredibly complex and deep, and often reveal themselves after 10 to 20 years in bottle. The 1978 vintage sold for €2,797 (up by 11%) to a bidder from Australia.