Rossignol-trapet

MEETING IN THE KINGDOM OF PINOT NOIR!

DOMAINE

Domaine Rossignol-trapet is a family vineyard located in Gevrey-chambertin, Burgundy. Rich in a history several hundred years old, it now operates more than 13 hectares.

Currently they produce 13 different cuvées ranging from generic Burgundy to Gevreychambertin, with an average of 55/60,000 bottles per year. These are estate wines that are produced with “100% of our grapes and our vineyards. Note that the family owns 95% of the vines. The remaining 5% comes from share cropping under contract with the family for over 40 years!

Let’s go together to meet this illustrious Burgundian family.

Why did you decide to make wine, to become a winegrower?

Nicolas Rossignol: It already goes back a long way (laughs)! I remember when I was 15, during family meals with my grandfather, my father… I liked to taste wines with them. I also liked to help the family regularly, whether it was in the cellar or in the vineyard... From there it came gradually. and after my baccalauréat exam I oriented to study engineering in the sector of agronomy and viticulture So little by little a seed germinated.

At the start, I had an appetite more for the vine, for being outside, in the open air. I have always and naturally been attracted by the magic of the plant which grows according to the seasons.

What does wine represent for you?

N. R.: Wine is a passion, it is conviviality and sharing. Wine is sensory pleasure, taste, smell... But it can only be a pleasure if it is shared.

Where does the name of the property come from?

N. R.: He comes from two families. My father Rossignol and my mother Trapet. My father was born in Volnay in 1933, he comes from a family of nine children. My mother was born in Gevrey to a family of two children. After their marriage in 1960 my father came to work on the estate with my grandfather. For Rossignol, the origins date back to the 16th century in Volnay with a winegrower. But it’s a name that comes fromthe center of France, from Auvergne. To continue on with the history of the Trapets, my father worked for 30 years on my grandfather’s estate. My uncle and my father separated in 1990. My father got half of the Domaine Trapet and he joined his own vineyards from Beaune to create the Domaine Rossignol-trapet. My father had vines in Beaune and we have vines in Gevrey that we had kept following the separation of the property in two.

What is the signature of your wines? Blindly, what can make us recognize them?

I would say it’s elegance and purity, well I hope so! I mean a notion of purity at the aromatic level. This is an idea that is not easy to grasp. But I got to grips with it by tasting wines from other regions, other continents. There were superb Pinot Noirs but they were a little less clean, a little less precise. At Domaine Rossignoltrapet we only make Pinot Noir, no Chardonnay. We are mono-varietal. It is obvious in Gevrey but perhaps less so in Beaune…

What are the different terroirs that you have and their strengths?

N. R.: There are so many different terroirs! We have very light, almost sandy soils, scree on Les Combottes which is a 1er cru at the top of the hillsides, but we also have colluvium, gravelin Combes sur Gevrey (“graves” for Bordeaux). We also have very stony plots, with rocks but with clay soils on the whole… Also loamy soils llike on Chapelle with outcropping rocks. We are lucky to have a great diversity of soils and terroirs. On the other hand, we must not forget that it is not very hilly in Gevrey… there is not much relief!

At the level of the vine, we have the idea of cultivating differently. We stopped weeding in 1995 and at the end of 1997 we started with two hectares in biodynamics until 2004:2 hectares per year. We asked for certification in 2005. It was an important step and we were in a group at the time which was in this dynamic.

GESTURE: research action in the field, on compost...

Do you have an anecdote to tell us?

N. R.: During the war, the national road in front of the estate was busy at the time. There were a lot of German officers passing and stopping to buy wine but my grandfather wouldn’t sell it to them. My grandfather had left only one candle to light the cellar, deliberately badly, and show that he only had 4 barrels in the cellar and therefore that he could not sell anything. One day my mother, then very small, arrived and said: but dad it is there (pointing to the switch) the light!… After that he had to sell wine to the Germans.

To complete the story, a little later and following the law passed in 1942 which stipulated that the Germans could only requisition wines in village appellations, he switched almost all of his vines to 1er Cru.

Thanks to the Rossignol-trapet family

for their friendly welcome - J.C.C.

Domaine Rossignol-trapet

4 Rue de la Petite Issue, 21220 Gevrey-chambertin (France)

rossignol-trapet.com