Only one grape varietal is grown in this neck of the woods: Pinot Noir. Travelling south from Dijon via Marsannay and Fixin, Gevrey-Chambertin is the tip of a narrow length of terrain that stars the world’s paramount Pinot Noir vineyards. It’s the Pinot Noir equivalent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, emblazoned with the famous appellations Chambertin, Clos de Bèze and Latricières-Chambertin.

Additionally, Gevrey-Chambertin has twenty-six Premier Cru climats*, making it arguably the most exciting and pivotal contributor to Burgundy’s outstanding reputation.  The monks of the Abbaye de Bèze recorded the planting of vineyards here in 640 AD, proving the unparalleled viticultural heritage of the appellation.

The Roy family has been cultivating grapes for four generations and in 1982, they began bottling their own production to fulfil their passion. With much effort and an acute focus on further enhancing their wines, Marc and his daughter Alexandrine bought a few more blocks of vineyards to increase the size of the Domaine to four hectares.

In 2003, Alexandrine took over the Domaine with the intent on further raising the bar. Gradually, she reduced the yields, to produce fewer but better grapes with greater concentration of flavour. The vineyards are grown organically, strictly maintained, with great attention to detail.

The Domaine is composed of 3.5 hectares of Pinot Noir for four different cuvées.  The ‘Vielles Vignes’ or old vines cuvée is made from the oldest vines of the estate – averaging 70 years old. ‘La Justice’ cuvée – named after its climat that Alexandrine bought in 2010 – produced its first vintage as recently as 2011. La Justice is located in the northeast part of Gevrey-Chambertin. The cuvée “Clos Prieur” is from another small block, located below the prestigious Grand Cru vineyards of Mazis-Chambertin.

The most recently released vintages of La Justice and Clos Prieur are so exceptionally made, that most wine critics consider them to be of a Premier Cru standard.

The cuvée “Alexandrine” was created in 2005 to showcase Alexandrine’s talent. She selects the grapes over six of her favourite plots of vineyards. She is only taking the grapes that are “millerandées” meaning the grapes that are naturally smaller and concentrated. It requires a doubly long selection process and twice as many locations to create this cuvée with Grand Cru complexity, sans the Grand Cru price tag.

Domaine Roy is also producing a Chardonnay grown on a stunning half hectare vineyard located in the village of Marsannay called “les Champs Perdrix”.

In the Domaine, the winemaking is traditional with the utmost attention given to expressing the different terroirs* and vintages. Every cuvée is matured in French oak barrels for at least eleven months. Alexandrine uses new French oaks; taking care not to overpower the purity of the fruit or the terroir. The wines are bottled at the Domaine and stored in optimal conditions.

Clos Cachet is very proud to import Domaine Marc Roy’s wines to Australia. Their wines occupy the cellars of the most renowned restaurants and wine bars worldwide.

* Climat refers to a named plot of vineyard.

**Terroir is the specific combination of location, vineyard, climate and people that create a wine. Accordingly, different terroirs produce different wines.

Gevrey-Chambertin

View the location of Marc Roy's vines on the PDF below.