Roc Breïa
Burgundy
If you have been following along with Théo Dancer's evolution, a common thread is his eagerness to learn, grow, and think outside the box—all while not leaving behind the practices that have clearly served him and his family well.
At the Domaine, he has stayed true to tradition. And his eponymous Théo Dancer wines have given him the ability to be more playful and experiment with different grape varieties across France. But under the Roc Breïa label, Théo was presented with the opportunity to grow a vineyard from the ground up. The farming philosophy is similar to that of the Domaine. What is unique to this 10.5ha plot in the Mâcon is that it was farmed conventionally prior; "When seeing the plot there wasn't life – that was a challenge, but an exciting challenge." This sort of blank slate gave Théo the opportunity to use farming techniques he learned from his father and implement them into a new site, starting from scratch and seeing it come to life.
In the Côte d'Or, it is traditional to see many different cuvées in a Domaine's range. Théo wanted to pursue something a bit simpler for Roc Breïa, using 10.5ha just to make two wines: a Chardonnay coming from 60+ year-old vines and a Pinot Noir coming from vines 35+ years old.
Théo's Notes on the 2024 Vintage"The 2024 vintage in Burgundy turned out to be particularly challenging from a weather standpoint starting in May. The weather gave us no respite, with repeated rainfall that made vineyard protection difficult to manage. Downy mildew was especially aggressive and caused a significant loss of crop after flowering. One small consolation with mildew is that it affects quantity rather than quality, as the affected berries simply dry out.
Once the wines were in the cellar, however, the vintage proved to be remarkably impressive, and we were very pleased with the overall sanitary condition of the grapes at harvest time. Yields were extremely low, but this brought, in my view, great concentration and vibrancy. It is a fresher vintage, with harvest beginning on September 10th at Roc Breïa. A return to a more classic Burgundian style, somewhat reminiscent of 2021, which remains one of my favourite vintages so far.
For us, 2024 marks a new step forward in terms of quality, and each new vintage shows us a little more that our vineyard work is starting to pay off. We hope you will feel it in your glass when you open this new vintage."
