NEAL ROSENTHAL'S "MOST UNDERRATED" BURGUNDY PRODUCER

Last year at a lunch with Neal Rosenthal, one of America's finest boutique farmhouse wine importers, we had the pleasure of enjoying a magnum of 1983 Domaine Rollin Corton-Charlemagne. The bottle was extraordinary and exhibited a poised balance of honeyed orchard fruits laced with umami and earl grey tea. I asked Neal who the most underrated producer was in his portfolio, who are we missing? His response, "you're drinking it right now."  Rollin is one of the staple Burgundy producers of the Neal Rosenthal import portfolio, and each year a tiny amountof these tremendous Burgundies priced like its yesteryear are released into the states.

Rollin is one of the benchmark producers in Pernand-Vergelesses, a tiny village tucked away under the Grand Cru hill of Corton. Beneath Corton’s majesty, the village has a cooler microclimate whose virtues truly show best in warmer vintages like 2018 and 2019. These wines exhibit the increased weight inherent to the vintage, but possess that streak of acidity and minerality that makes Rollin’s wines some of the most reliable values in Burgundy. They're classic Burgundies that aren't marred by oak or overextraction, and the pricing approaches Tuesday night Burgundy level. I encourage all levels of Burgundy lover to explore these wines, as they usually come in as one of our favorite values each year. - BK

The vineyards for this spicy and aromatic red are situated in Pernand Vergelesses and Echevronne (about 2 hectares or so). An energetic wine that captures the essence of the Cote de Beaune with its red cherry flavors and ebullient floral bouquet. Aged in small barrel (no new oak) but bottled a few months earlier than the other more substantial reds of the domaine to emphasize its fruitiness. 3600 bottles available to the US per year.