2014 Domaine de Chassorney St. Romain Rouge ‘Sous Roches’

Region: Côte d’Or < Burgundy < France
Grapes: Pinot Noir
Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Organic farming, limestone soils with a bit of clay; fermented in oak and aged in barrel for 3 years, then bottled unfined/unfiltered; zero added SO2
Winemaker: Fréderic Cossard

Fréderic is blazing the trail for natural wine in the Côte d’Or, and extremely natty at that – a bold move, considering that there is really only one other producer working naturally in this region of big prices and big manipulation.  A relative newcomer to wine (he started in the milk trade, following in his father’s footsteps), Fréderic started his Domaine de Chassorney in 1996 with some small parcels in Saint-Romain and has since amassed choice parcels in Volnay and Pommard.  He also makes wine under the negociant label “Fréderic Cossard”, which rents and organically farms parcels in Beaujolais and the Côte de Nuits. Frédéric has worked organically from the start, and now does what he calls “homeopathic farming”, taking biodynamics a step further, avoiding the bioD-approved treatments in favor of homeopathic treatments tailored to the needs of each site. He makes his wines utilizing some of the hygienic practices he learned working with raw milk, allowing him to add no chemicals whatsoever (including no sulfur). Macerations and fermentations are long (5-6 weeks), and he ages in new to three-year-old barrels. He sterilizes his barrels using ionized negative oxygen molecules, which eliminates the need for any chemical cleansers. During élevage, he neither stirs nor racks. When both the alcoholic and malolactic fermentations finish, he assembles his wines without fining, filtration, or additions of SO2. This extreme care results in pure, pristine wines that are MIND-BENDINGLY good, bursting with life and energy.  Like this single-vineyard St. Romain Rouge, which slowly evolves in the glass, opening with bright red fruit and a Beaujolais-like charm before tightening into a very serious, savory, earthy, floral wine with a long, lingering finish. Wil age beautifully if you can keep you have the willpower to put it aside for a few years…