Laurent Roumier is the grandson of the legendary Georges Roumier and his holdings originate from that grand old estate with more recent additions of 6 hectares in the Hautes Cotes de Nuits being purchased in the 1990s and further purchases in Chambolle Musigny.

His father Alain was the cellar master for Comte de Vogue for nearly 3 decades before taking his portion of the family vineyards to farm for his own family. The cellars are almost next door to Georges Roumier at the back of the village in the rue de Vergy (which perhaps could be called the 'rue des Roumiers' as the various branches of the family seem to occupy most of the lane).

Wines here appear stylistically very similar to those of Georges with even the same barrels and oak used as his cousins though one notable difference is that Laurent mostly de-stems giving wines that show an excellent depth of colour and which are more immediately perfumed and accessible in their youth while still having ample depth and structure to age classically.

In recent vintages, Laurent’s son is now working with him lending not only another set of hands but fresh perspectives and bringing new energy together with some more investments including extensions to the cellar and renewal to some of the winemaking areas. The relatively modern cellar enables the wine to be moved with ease by gravity into barrel following ferments.

The vines are on average 35 years old, and they are farmed traditionally and responsibly, “the same way his father, Alain, did”: naturally, with neither fertilizer nor herbicide. Green harvests are carried out in the summer when necessary. All of the vines are harvested by hand.

In the cellar, the work is carried out with the same level of precision. The grapes are entirely destemmed the vinified in concrete vats. Alcoholic fermentation lasts around 15 days, with pumping over and punching down every day, and the temperature is checked every day. When it comes to pressing, the team decants the wines for 12 hours in vats and then barrels (50% of which are new for the grand crus and the premiers crus, 30% for the villages and 10% for the Bourgogne Hautes-côtes-de-Nuits). The élevage lasts 15 to 18 months, with the barrels (mostly Tonnelerie Rousseau) being topped up once a week and racked two or three times during the entire period of élevage.