Domaine Armand Rousseau is one of the most famous and best domaines in Burgundy. Based in Gevrey-Chambertin, the estate is formed of just over 15 hectares, over half of which is Grand Cru.
This is one of Burgundy’s greatest domaines – in terms of history, vineyard holdings and quality of wine. The original Armand Rousseau was at the forefront of the first wave of domaine bottling in the 1930s. He was succeeded by his son Charles in 1959, shortly after they had bought a significant slice of the Clos St Jacques vineyard. Today Eric, grandson of Armand, is in charge of the vines and cellar, with the help of his daughter Cyrielle.
The domaine produces pale, finely structured wines of great elegance and stamina. The simple principle of old (but not ancient) vines and sensible yields dictates the Rousseau style. Sometimes the wines can appear light in their youth, but they nearly always take on weight as they age.
97 Points Allen Meadows
Discreet wood is present on the ultra-fresh and incredibly spicy though even more restrained nose that reflects notes of red berries, the sauvage, earth, floral and exotic tea wisps. The gorgeous mouthfeel of the imposingly constituted and admirably concentrated flavors is one of contrasts as the mid-palate is quite supple yet the powerful, driving, austere and muscular finish is robust, serious and austere. This almost painfully intense wine is jaw droppingly good and somewhat curiously relative to how the Chambertin and the Clos de Bèze typically show at this stage, the Chambertin is the flashier of the two. We’ll see in time though as it’s usually the Chambertin that goes into a shell only to emerge 20+ years later. Be that as it may, today this is a genuine ‘wow’ wine.
96 Points Robert Parker Wine Advocate
Revisited from bottle, the 2017 Chambertin Grand Cru is showing beautifully, soaring from the glass with expressive aromas of sweet red berry fruit, smoked meats, coniferous forest floor, mandarin orange and peonies, framed by a deft application of cedary, spicy new oak. Full-bodied, sumptuous and enveloping, its velvety attack segues into an ample core of succulent fruit, concluding with a long and resonant finish. This is likely to be both deceptively approachable young and notably long-lived, offering a broad drinking window.
96-98 Points Jasper Morris
Plenty of depth of colour, the nose is very backward – not that there is nothing here but it is all in reserve, then along comes the fruit, a delicious subtlety along with the concentrated elegance. Quite linear, wood showing its paces, deep raspberry fruit with some alpine strawberry, nothing black here. Fine balanced long finish. So much in reserve though.