2022 Digioia Royer
It was a small cramped cellar, off one of the side streets in Chambolle Musigny, filled to the ceiling with mostly Bourgogne when I first tasted Michel Digioia’s wines. We sat in the dim light, tasting through the 2008/2009 lineup and it was hard to deny the quality of the regional wines, but when we got to the Chambolle Musigny wines - it was just flat out WOW!
It was beginning to all make sense. We had visited with Francois Millet of Comte Vogue earlier that day when I asked him if there were any new producers making exciting wines in the village and he quickly responded Michel Digioia.
Those were the days that the producers tasted you on the wines in cask and then showed you the wines they were currently offering for sale in bottle. You rarely see them do that today as the previous vintage is entirely sold out.
Not a whole lot has changed since that first visit and I’d say Digioia Royer is still very much an “insiders wine.” You either know it or you don’t. Critic reviews is not something you are going to see, which is one of the reasons the prices have not gone to the moon, like so many of the other producers from the village. Michel has added a handful of wines over the years, mostly from Beaune, but the undeniable star of the line is old vine, lieu dit, Chambolle Musigny Les Fremieres.
This well-sited .70 hectare plot was planted in the 1930’s. I have tasted every vintage he has produced since he began domaine bottling with the 2003 vintage. In a blind tasting this wine puts a lot of producers 1er cru to shame.
The fruit is 100% destemmed, maceration and alcoholic fermentation are carried out under temperature control. Typical elevage lasts between 16 and 18 months in standard 228L barrels, with roughly 20% being new. I find the wine to display an inky dark purple color in most vintages. In the mouth the flavors are undeniable Chambolle Musigny - with its color you would expect a wine with massive intensity, but what I find, there is a plushness, an elegance and refinement to the sappy middleweight intensity it provides on the palate. The warmer vintages do show a bit more early accessibility in their youth (the fruit tends to be more forward) however, I find that you need to treat this one as you would a 1er cru and give it some patience in the cellar - I’ve found some recent bottles of 2009 and 2010 (even at the Bourgogne level) are just now getting into their drinking window, and there is no rush to drink up either as these still have a long life ahead of them.
I’ve said it before, and will say it again - this is one of the best values in Chambolle Musigny, which I highly recommend. I’ve only managed 60 bottles on the Vieilles Vignes this year and advise picking some up today. It’s unlikely any will be available by the time it arrives this fall.
