History
This 11-hectare Domaine, spread over Echevronne, Pernand-Vergelesses, Savigny-Lès-Beaune and Aloxe-Corton, has been run by Remi Rollin since 1989 and more recently he has been joined by his son Simon Rollin in 2003, and Simon’s wife Caroline in 2009. The Domaine has been passed down now by four generations, Raymond Rollin acquired a number of vine parcels, most notably the parcel of Pernand-Vergelesses Premier Cru Ile des Vergelesses. Raymond’s son, Maurice, played an important role in winning over a large client base while undertaking the management of other vine parcels. In 1976, Remi joined his father Raymond in planting up to almost 10 hectares over the next few years. Remi’s wife, Agnes, helped with the rapid development in bottle sales and since the mid-1990’s all the production has been bottled and labeled under their own label.
Production
The high altitude of Remi’s vineyards imparts a minerality and fresh acidity to his wines while his tentative use of new oak smooths off the firm edge that many lesser Pernands have without preventing the fruit from expressing itself. There is no new oak used for the villages and generic level wines whilst a maximum of one quarter new oak is employed for the red and white premiers crus. These are some of Burgundy's best value wines. Domain Rollin has been certified by Terravitis since 2015 following sustainable practices.
2017 Vintage
Harvest began on the 5th September here. Pinot Noirs were uniformly ripe but getting there required some green harvesting “which in a way we did with heavy heart, after producing so little in 2016, but we had to do it”, Simon Rollin was at pains to point out. Chardonnay bunches were a relatively decent size but skins were thick and produced less juice than they were expecting. It is a relatively ripe vintage for whites but as Simon noted “they are very saline and also the wines gained a lot of tension during ageing sur lie. For me it is somewhere between 2015 and 2014 in style.” Reds and whites, these are wines that have terroir oozing from their every pore. Cool and mineral, pure and vibrant but with no lack meat on the bones, these are a fantastic advert for Pernand Vergelesses.
2018 Vintage
We were hoping 2018 was a vintage tailor-made for the cool vineyards of Pernand-Vergelesses - and we were not disappointed. Remi Rollin’s wines more than live up to their promise. The grapes were harvested at the end of August and beginning of September, the Rollin’s brought the harvest forward by a week, so rapid was the rate at which the grapes were ripening. Nothing was picked at less than 12.5 degrees alcohol; surely a record for Pernand. The whites were already in bottle by November, as is often the case here, helping to preserve the fresh aspect of the wines. The reds, in barrel when tasted in November, will be bottled towards the end of the year or the beginning of 2020. An excellent vintage for reds as much as whites, cool, controlled wines that mix sunny fruit flavours with tangy minerality. A star showing in both colours, wines more than capable of holding their own in a line-up of bottles from more famous villages.
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