Morey Saint Denis - Côte Rotie

I was looking at a map of MSD and saw Côte Rotie listed as a vineyard? It just struck me as oddly named of course, but it does look like a Premier Cru vineyard. Has anybody ever seen a bottling?

I believe they dont grow grapes there. At least anymore.
And nope to seeing a bottling.

Here is the location on Google Maps:

It’s the little sliver between the two roads. Looks like it’s all housing now.

Interesting, if Im looking at the map properly it looks like the sliver where Ponsot sits?

There ist a hostel (called Cote-Rotie) there, which btw is recommended for an inexpensive and quiet stay.
Maybe there are a few grapes grown below on the Ponsot property, but certainly not declared seperately (maybe used in a cuvee).

Would make a good bet that Domaine Ponsot makes wine in Cote Rotie.

I started a thread on this one time; I was going to include it on a blind tasting if I could find a bottle. There might be a few grapes grown there but I don’t there is a vineyard designated CR.

I have never ever seen a label MSD Cote-Rotie - not to talk about a bottle (also not online).
I suppose that - if Ponsot grows some vines in Cote-Rotie at all - they mix it into their MoreySD Village cuvee. It might be far less than it takes to fill a half barrel.
Also if any of the owners of the private houses above Ponsot have any vines there - they first have to declare it, then have to declare the harvest - and then might be able to sell the grapes (to Ponsot or whomever). I doubt that happens.

I have no idea when the vines in Cote-Rotie got ripped out - but that might have been 40/50 or more years ago.
In those days most 1er Crus were mixed together and disappeared into a plain MSD 1er Cru or Village cuvée.
That might be the reason of the non-existance of a CR label.

This may be slightly off-topic but I have some '96 Morey-Saint-Denis Clos Sorbe by Joseph Drouhin. Do you think that it is past it’s prime? It’s been well-stored

My experiences is that top 1996s (I would include this wine in that category - it is made by Jouan) are just entering their drinking window.

Thanks. I appreciate that

weird; kramer’s book lists it as 1.2298 ha/3 acres, but no owners at all.

also an ironically named 1er called “le village”

Why should it be? Most probably coming around soon …

That’s correct - I have some …vineyard just below the Place de Monument …

No grower would be allowed to put it on the label these days, under EU regulations, as it might be confused with Côte-Rôtie in the Rhône. There is also a lieu-dit “Côte-Rôtie” in Saint-Véran in the Mâconnais, which growers there are not allowed to put on the label for that reason. Jean-Marie Guffens makes his “Liu (Inter)dit” cuvée of Saint-Véran from that site.

I think it pays not to be unequivocal - particularly with burgundy!

Multiple domaines in St.Veran actually do use the lieu-dit La Côte Rotie on their labels (some spelled Rôtie, others simply Rotie, just type st veran cote rotie into google images to see), just like others use en or les Pommards. When in discussion with the syndicate of Côte Rotie producers, the vignerons of St.Veran were surprised that the growers of the Rhône told them that they should stand up for their rights and use the lieu dits as they had been named for 100s of years - so that’s what many now do. Of course, they had the confidence to do so because the Rhône syndicate backed them up.

Some brave Fleurie producers are now starting to label wines ‘lieu-dit en champagne’ - but I suspect that they will have less backing from the ‘owner’ of that particular brand

Of-course, still nobody has seen a Morey Côte Rotie in the wild, I’ve managed to track down the occasional Genavrières but not this one…

Ha! You’re quite right!

When did that start?

Intra-syndicat discussions were initiated around 2010, kicked off by the instigation of the project for 1er crus in St.Véran - the criteria for attributing particular climats as premier crus is still not yet fully defined - or perhaps simply not yet communicated - it’s seemingly not so easy with 42 defined climats!