Remi Rollin

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.

2019 Vintage

2019 was not an early vintage. In fact, the Rollins were surprised how slow the grapes were to ripen. They had to wait to pick at the right time, particularly for Chardonnay. Harvest started on the 12th for the Pinots, but they needed to wait a few more days for the whites. More often than not both colours are picked at the same time. When ripeness eventually came, on the 16th September, they had to move fast to avoid over-ripeness. Simon Rollin considers 2019 a “generous, concentrated and deep (vintage) but the main thing is the high level of acidity that balances the wines pretty well. The wines are higher than ever in alcohol but they are not heavy or strong, but still fresh with a nice acidity. Not a usual balance but a nice balance.” When asked about what vintages 2019 reminded him of, Simon described them as incomparable, expanding “ ....my father and i discussed this, and we talked about something like 1980, which was a deep and concentrated vintage, but with this acidity (as well) it’s never been seen before, it is another kind of vintage for us.” A special and unique vintage that Simon Rollin believes has the building blocks for good ageing capacity with its concentration, power and freshness.

2020 Vintage

This is an excellent vintage in both red and white for the Rollin family, a no nonsense domaine that produces wines of real character, finesse and surprising longevity. Harvest started with the reds on the 19th and 20th August, then ran uninterrupted from 23rd to 30th September. After pausing for a week, the Rollins harvested their last whites between 8th and 10th September. These cooler Pernand Vergelesses vineyards seem to have coped with the vintage conditions particularly well in 2020 and indeed Simon Rollin reported higher sugars than ever before matched by acids similar to those found in 2014 – a striking combination. From an excellent and characterful Hautes Cotes de Blanc, up to the top reds and whites, there’s an inherent quality and freshness in the Rollin wines in 2020 that should win them lots of new fans and please regular buyers alike.

2021 Vintage

The charming, down to earth Rollin family saw every single one of their climats hit hard by the frost in 2021, and as a result produced between 20–25% of a normal crop. Simon was however upbeat about what remained, explaining “the big difference between this vintage and the frost-hit 2016 was that we had great homogeneity in 2021. We didn’t have to do much sorting, and the harmony in the wines reflects this.” Ten days of harvest kicked off on September 18th and resulted in a range of wines with crisp aromas and impressive flesh. The whites in particular are very clear, pure and engaging, and as is so often the case, offer up an excellent value alternative to some of the more famous villages in the Côte de Beaune.

2022 Vintage

“It was very dry in 2022, and frankly, it was incredible that no vines, - except the youngest –suffered, and we had no blockage. We started on 27th August and were done in ten days. Vinifications were easy. We had a touch of humidity in the growing season, so you had to keep an eye on disease, but overall, it was an easy vintage.” The charming and no-nonsense Remi Rollin was all smiles when we visited, with a fine, generous, even keeled, range of wines in his cellar and a bumper crop to follow. For our part, we loved tasting their supple, energetic, lively reds and bright, charming and surprisingly persistent and driven whites. They look sure to delight and continue to represent some of the best value wines coming out of the region.

2023 Vintage

Simon Rollin was on excellent form when we visited to taste his 2023s. Noting that his Chardonnay yield was big but not much bigger than in 2022, it was a huge Pinot Noir harvest that primarily contributed to this being the biggest vintage in the history of the estate. “Everything was ripe,” Simon remarked, with a shy smile. Potential degrees measured 12.5-13%, pretty textbook, following a season that saw huge amounts of green harvesting in the Pinots. When the time came to harvest, beginning on the 7th September, they took the decision to pick only in the mornings, to preserve freshness in both the grapes and the harvest team. A first for the estate. This remains one of the best value estates on the Cote d’Or, offering wines that are understated yet no less pleasurable for it. Expect rich but bright and salty whites, and reds that have all of the fruit of their 2022 siblings, but more crunch and tannic bite to keep them focussed and fresh.