Domaine DUJAC Clos de la Roche Grand Cru 2024

Domaine DUJAC Clos de la Roche Grand Cru 2024

Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche Grand Cru 2024 is a red Burgundy from Dujac’s largest Grand Cru holding, assembled from several lieux-dits within the Clos de la Roche appellation in Morey-Saint-Denis. Made from 100% Pinot Noir on limestone-rich soils, it combines the site’s firm mineral core, darker fruit and structured tannins with Dujac’s whole-bunch, low-intervention style and the freshness of the challenging 2024 vintage.

Technical Details

• Producer: Domaine Dujac, Morey-Saint-Denis, Côte de Nuits, Burgundy, France

• Wine: Clos de la Roche Grand Cru

• Appellation: Clos de la Roche Grand Cru, Côte de Nuits

• Vintage: 2024

• Grape variety: 100% Pinot Noir

• Vineyard: Clos de la Roche, assembled from five lieux-dits

• Domaine holding: Approximately 1.95 hectares

• Vineyard location: Northern end of Morey-Saint-Denis, bordering Gevrey-Chambertin

• Vineyard position: Above and below the 280-metre line, above the Route des Grands Crus

• Climats included: Clos de la Roche, Monts Luisants, Les Chabiots, Les Froichots, Les Fremières and others

• Soil: Clay and limestone

• Harvest: Manual

• Fermentation: Whole-bunch fermentation, with little or no destemming depending on the vintage

• Yeasts: Indigenous

• Ageing: Approximately 14–18 months in French oak barrels

• Bottle size: 750 ml

• Release status: Not yet ready for release; en primeur allocation wine

• Serving temperature: 15–17°C once mature

The Producer

Domaine Dujac is one of Burgundy’s most respected estates, founded in 1967 by Jacques Seysses and now led by the Seysses family. The domaine is known for perfumed, finely structured Pinot Noirs that emphasize terroir transparency, aromatic complexity and elegance.

Dujac’s Clos de la Roche holding consists of approximately 1.95 hectares, assembled from parcels acquired at the estate’s founding and expanded in 1977 and 1990. The wine is drawn from five lieux-dits, giving it a broad, layered expression of the Grand Cru rather than a single-parcel profile.

Vineyard and Terroir

Clos de la Roche lies at the northern end of Morey-Saint-Denis, close to the border with Gevrey-Chambertin. The vineyard is divided into eight climats, and Dujac’s holding draws from several of them, including Clos de la Roche itself, Monts Luisants, Les Chabiots, Les Froichots and Les Fremières.

The soils are clay-limestone, with a firm mineral core that gives the wine its structure and intensity. Compared with neighbouring Clos Saint-Denis, Clos de la Roche typically produces a brawnier, more muscular wine with darker fruit, firmer tannins and notes of iron, graphite, musk and nutmeg.

The 2024 Vintage

The 2024 Burgundy growing season was exceptionally difficult, with heavy rainfall, cool temperatures and widespread mildew pressure. Frost, hail and disease pressure made the growing season particularly challenging for Pinot Noir, and yields fell dramatically in the worst-affected parcels.

Despite these difficulties, careful fruit selection and meticulous vineyard work allowed producers such as Dujac to retain the freshness, aromatic definition and fine tannic structure that define the vintage. The resulting reds are expected to be lighter in weight than riper recent years, but precise, energetic and highly transparent.

Winemaking and Ageing

Dujac’s Pinot Noir is hand-harvested and vinified with whole bunches, with the proportion of stems adapted to the character of the vintage. Fermentation uses indigenous yeasts and lasts around two weeks, beginning with light pigeage and later gentle remontage for a softer extraction.

After pressing, the wine is moved by gravity to the cellar and aged for approximately 14–18 months in French oak barrels. Dujac selects its barrels well in advance to ensure proper seasoning, aiming for subtle oak integration that supports the wine’s fruit, spice and mineral structure.

Expected Tasting Profile

As an unreleased 2024, this wine should be approached as a tightly structured, mineral-driven Grand Cru with significant ageing potential. Clos de la Roche is typically firmer and more muscular than Clos Saint-Denis, with darker fruit, grainier tannins and a pronounced mineral backbone.

Dujac’s version is likely to show its signature perfume and transparency: dark cherry, blackberry, plum, musk, nutmeg, iron, graphite and subtle earthy notes. The 2024 vintage should bring additional freshness and tension, with fine-grained tannins and a long, saline finish.

Aroma and flavour: dark cherry, blackberry, plum, musk, nutmeg, iron, graphite, forest floor, subtle earth and mineral notes.

Palate: medium- to full-bodied, structured and intense, with firm grainy tannins, vibrant acidity, layered dark fruit and a long mineral finish.

Style: a powerful yet refined Grand Cru Pinot Noir—denser and more structured than Clos Saint-Denis, with Dujac’s aromatic lift and the cool-vintage precision of 2024.

Drinking Window

As an unreleased 2024 Grand Cru, this is primarily a cellaring wine. It should benefit from several years in bottle after release, allowing its tannins, oak and mineral complexity to integrate.

A realistic drinking window is likely to begin around 2031–2035 and extend for two decades or more under good cellar conditions. Serve it initially at 15–17°C and allow it plenty of air to open.

Food Pairing

Once mature, pair it with roast duck, pheasant, guinea fowl, venison, lamb or beef in a light red-wine sauce. Its acidity and firm tannins also suit mushroom-based dishes, truffle preparations and semi-aged cheeses such as Époisses, Comté or Cîteaux.

Avoid very spicy or heavily smoked dishes, which can overwhelm the wine’s dark fruit, mineral precision and fine structure.

Collector Note

This is a rare allocation wine from one of Burgundy’s most sought-after producers, made from a significant holding in one of Morey-Saint-Denis’s great Grand Crus. Dujac’s Clos de la Roche is produced in limited quantities, and the dramatically reduced yields of the 2024 vintage are likely to make availability especially tight.

The combination of Dujac’s reputation, the multi-lieu-dit composition of the wine and the freshness of the 2024 vintage makes this a compelling long-term proposition for collectors of age-worthy red Burgundy.

Recommended serving: after several years of cellaring, open and decant for 1–2 hours before serving at 15–17°C; use a large Burgundy glass to allow its dark fruit, spice and mineral depth to unfold.

Vineyard notes:

"The Clos de la Roche Grand Cru lies between the village of Morey-Saint-Denis to the south and Gevrey-Chambertin to the north, where the slope varies greatly, ranging from 4 to 23%. The plot ranges in altitude from 276 to 308 meters. The lieu-dit faces east. The soil changes from east to west. In the eastern part, the reddish-brown soil is about 40 to 50 cm thick, with many angular-to-blunt limestone fragments. Upslope, in the western part of the Grand Cru, the soil contains a great deal of angular limestone gravel. Two types of substratum underlie the Clos de la Roche Grand Cru. In the eastern part, fine-grained Premeaux limestone, light in color, with patches of flint-like chert nodules (chailles), crops out in beds tens of centimeters thick. In the western part, where the slope is steep, the bedded limestone scree (grèzes litées) lining the slope is composed of small angular Comblanchien limestone fragments."

Classification

Grand Cru

Drinking Window

2027-2055

Ageing

The wines will spend 14 to 18 months in oak barrels. We buy the wood two years in advance to guarantee sufficient drying time for the quality of our barrels. Elevage plays a key role in refining the tannins, which is why we use a significant proportion of new wood.

Winemaking

Our grapes are vinified with little or no destemming, depending on the nature of the vintage. Only indigenous yeasts are used to preserve the authentic origin of the wines. Fermentation lasts about two weeks with some light punching down at the start, then pumping over for a smoother extraction towards the end of fermentation. The main concern is the balance between firmness and suppleness for the tannins. After being lightly pressed in a pneumatic press, the wines are transferred to the cellar by gravity.