11/06/2026
There is no doubt that every Burgundy enthusiast has their own favorite appellation. Each appellation comes with its own stories, and there is no shortage of details to captivate the devoted aficionado: the exact location of a favorite producer’s lieu-dit, the soil composition, the orientation of the slope, the fact that it lies right next to a famous vineyard, or that it borders a lieu-dit owned by a renowned domaine.
https://vinetsake.wordpress.com/2026/06/11/saint-romain-sous-le-chateau-clos-du-cerisier/
For newcomers, Burgundy can seem complex—multiple owners may share the same vineyard name, and a single producer may craft wines across several appellations. In some cases, a well-known climat is made up of several lieux-dits, while in others a single lieu-dit may extend across Village and Premier Cru classifications, and sometimes even into Grand Cru. Many producers have similar names, often because they are related—whether as parent and child or through extended family ties.
However, once the system is understood, the knowledge begins to fall into place with surprising ease. One of the unique pleasures of Burgundy is that even wines you have never seen or tasted can be deeply enjoyable to explore purely through learning and understanding.
Saint-Romain is one of our favorite appellations. While it may not be a superstar with Grand Crus like Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-Saint-Denis, or Vosne-Romanée, it holds a special place for us as it has been an important vineyards for producers such as Chanterêves and Frédéric Cossard.
Frédéric Cossard is based in Saint-Romain and had produced some of the finest wines in this appellation from vineyards such as Sous Roche, Combe Bazin, Sous la Velle, Sous le Château, and Bourgogne En Carran. The wine we introduce here is Sous le Château Clos du Cerisier. Originating from a special parcel, it represents the top cuvée of Domaine de Chassorney and is produced only in a small number of magnums. This style has been carried on into the era of Aurélien Verdet and, as of 2023, remains preserved.
The wine is striking for its viscous, highly concentrated, and weighty juice. Its acidity, bitterness, and slight astringency are all of high quality, contributing depth, structure, and nuance to the full-bodied profile. It is clearly crafted with long-term aging in mind, and it is estimated that it will require another seven to eight years from now to fully open.
In fact, we ourselves had never tasted it in its bottled form before. Allocations have been inconsistent, and even when available, only a few bottles were offered. These were all sold en primeur, leaving none in our own cellar. This was our first opportunity to taste it after bottling.
It is an exceptional wine—at this stage, best described as a mass of pure potential. As an experiment, we left about one-fifth of the bottle without sealing it tightly, simply covering it lightly, and tasted it again a week later. There were no signs of oxidation; instead, the elements had integrated further, and it was in fact more enjoyable than on the first day.
If you plan to drink it in the near term, it would be advisable to open it three days to a day in advance, and decant it just before serving. Drinking a wine that is said to reach its peak in ten years is by no means a waste—there is a character that can only be appreciated now, so if you have the opportunity, it is well worth tasting.
