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Clos de la Roche 2007 75cl

AOC Grand Cru | Côte de Nuits | Borgogna | Francia
Esaurito
Punteggi dei critici
96 Robert Parker
Kirsch, rose hip, and soy intensely scent the Leroy 2007 Clos De La Roche, which reveals brightness and finesse as well as a saline savor unusual for its appellation. To be sure, notes of leather and crushed stone as well as smoked and roasted meats contribute further and perhaps more site-typical complexity. But it’s the sheer finesse, buoyancy, and vibratory energy on display that most amaze, leaving your tongue and gums a quiver and your salivary glands pumping helplessly. There is also a faint hint of heat, but its effect is negligible given what’s going on around you when you swallow (or, in my case, spit). Look for 20 or more years of excitement. The results Lalou Bize-Leroy achieved in 2006 – as I wrote in my previous red Burgundy report – were especially notable considering the misgivings she expressed early on about that vintage. She appeared more enthusiastic early on about 2007, but in this instance it’s far from merely notable – frankly, it’s utterly improbable – the richness and complexity that the Leroy team has achieved, especially considering that harvesting began here already on August 27! This collection is quite distinctive even from the very few others of its vintage that come even remotely close in quality. These 2007s display a sense of effortless effusiveness, primary juiciness, and – I don’t know how to put this less nebulously – elegance and in the best instances transparency, contrasting with the impressions of tumescent ripeness, coagulation, and new wood veneer that in some vintages accompany the profound richness of Leroy reds. As usual, the wines were all bottled in December, which at least in this vintage seems less difficult to reconcile with their exceptional quality than it does in vintages like 2005 or 2008, when so many of the other top practitioners of red Burgundy emphasize the need for longer elevage. Extremely low yields are of course also a common denominator among Bize-Leroy’s collections, although in the challenging 2007 vintage, she had somewhat more company than usual among fellow-vignerons in the roughly 20 hectoliter-per-hectare range. (And that was bounteous compared with the 13 hectoliters per hectare Bize-Leroy reports having managed in 2008, a vintage from which she did not want to show her bottled wines until June of this year, so that I shall publish notes on them in my follow-up to the present report.)
Produttore
Domaine Leroy
Essendo diventato sempre più difficile trovare vini che soddisfino gli alti standard dell'etichetta della Maison Leroy, Madame Lalou Bize-Leroy ha deciso di acquistare i propri vigneti. Riunendo diverse proprietà, fondò Domaine Leroy nel 1988. Oggi i vigneti si estendono su 21 ettari nella maggior parte delle zone classificate Grand Cru e Premier Cru. Seguendo la sua profonda convinzione secondo cui tutto è vivo - dal terreno all'uva fino all'umanità - Lalou Bize-Leroy ha introdotto immediatamente l'agricoltura biodinamica per rispettare il terroir. Questa pratica di coltivazione all'inizio era controversa, ma è ormai un approccio olistico molto conosciuto che si concentra sull'interconnessione del nostro ambiente, tenendo conto anche delle influenze astrologiche e cosmiche. Senza l'utilizzo di fertilizzanti chimici, erbicidi, insetticidi o pesticidi, i vigneti sono curati tutto l'anno e tutto è fatto manualmente. I risultati di questa produttrice esigente in termini di qualità sono stupefacenti. I vini sono estremamente concentrati e raffinati, con una purezza rara che proviene dai vigneti della proprietà.