Domaine Rollin

It is in the very midst of our family home in Pernand‑Vergelesses that we vinify our wines. Thanks to the rich diversity of the terroirs that surround us, we produce 14 different appellations.All work is carried out by our own team, from planting the vines through to the commercialisation of our wines.

Raymond Rollin was a vineyard worker in another wine business in the village, as had been his father before him. Despite his modest earnings, as the years passed he managed to acquire several parcels of vines that he then cultivated outside his working hours (notably the parcel of Pernand-Vergelesses Premier Cru Ile des Vergelesses which is so dear to our hearts today).

His son Maurice took a personal decision to set up his own business from 1955. It was Maurice who started to commercialise a part of the production in bottle. He had a great sense of sharing, of welcoming and exchanging with people. Supported by his wife Christiane, they very quickly won over what still represents today the base of our clientele. At the same time, they undertook the management of other parcels of vines on a rental basis and struggled to acquire new land.

In 1976, Maurice was joined by his son, Rémi. Together, they planted those pieces of land that would take the surface area of the domain up to almost 10 hectares at the beginning of the 1980s. Then they undertook the building of the working area necessary to cope with that growth. Thereafter, with Rémi’s wife Agnès, they rapidly developed sales in bottle, in France but also abroad. In this way, since the middle of the 1990s, all the production is bottled and commercialised under own label. They have always felt the need to progress in quality of production, while taking care to preserve and pass on their savoir‑faire. 

Simon, their son, took up the challenge beside them in 2003, joined by his wife Caroline in 2009. Close at heart is their desire for the long life of their business while looking after the essential aspect of its working environment; namely the vine.

Soils are ploughed regularly to encourage deep rooting of the vines and ensure diversity of organic life forms. Product additions are well thought out and adapted to each parcel as a function of regular soil analyses. Phyto-sanitary interventions are reduced as much as possible and adapted to the development of vegetation, the assessed risks and, of course, weather conditions.

Finally, the essential ingredient is the attention paid to manual tasks carried out throughout the vegetative growth of the vine. They allow us to adapt yields to each parcel and above all to ensure good aeration amongst grape bunches, indispensable for the good health of the crop. 

Once full ripeness is achieved, grapes are picked by hand and transported in small crates to keep them whole and undamaged.

White grapes are slowly pressed whole, thereby allowing all their varietal aromas to be conserved. After a light settling, musts are vinified either in vat for our Aligoté or in oak barrels for our different Chardonnays. In all cases we look for long and natural fermentations, to leave time for the wines to become enriched and refined in contact with their lees.

As for the red Pinot Noir grapes, they are hand sorted then gravity fed to vat (without pumping) to keep grapes intact and undamaged. During the maceration period that follows, all is done to avoid upsetting natural processes too much; this is to preserve all the red fruit aromas typical of this grape variety and all the characteristics of the terroirs that produced it. Thereafter, wines are aged for ten to fifteen months in oak barrels. 

All the mechanisms of vinification follow on naturally, with only temperatures regulated. Constant surveillance and great rigour in our handling allow us to achieve in this way wines that are fresh and naturally clear. This is why, most of the time, we allow ourselves to bottle them (also by ourselves) without fining or filtration, still with the objective of preserving their integrity undamaged.