Under the law of Hong Kong, intoxicating liquor must not be sold or supplied to a minor in the course of business. 根據香港法律,不得在業務過程中,向未成年人售賣或供應令人醺醉的酒類
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The story of Domaine Prieure Roch begins in 1988, when a young Henri-Frederic Roch (Co-Director of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and nephew of Lalou Bize-Leroy) purchased some vineyard parcels in the Vosne-Romanee wine appellation from the legendary Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. These parcels included the Clos Goillotte vineyard, which Roch visited and fell in love with 9 years before, in 1979. Inspired by the Bordeaux producer Château Prieure-Lichine, he decided to name his estate « Domaine Prieure Roch », meaning the “Priory Roch” estate, or DPR for short.
Gradually, Roch expanded his vineyard holdings from the original 10 acres to 34 acres, mostly located in Vosne-Romanee of the Cote de Nuits region in the Burgundy wine region. He also started making wine from holdings in Clos de Vougeot and Chambertin “Clos de Beze,” along with a 12-acre monopole, Nuits-St-Georges Premier Cru “Les Corvées,” supposedly Roch’s favorite plot. In 2010, Roch acquired a few hectares in the Cote du Beaune, from which he began producing the Ladoix Chardonnay. From early on, Roch opted for an ancestral minimal intervention approach to viticulture, methods that are today known as organic and biodynamic. In 1995, Roch stopped adding sulfur to his wines, choosing instead to rely on a completely natural vinification.
In 2005, Roch hired Yannick Champ, fresh out of the University of Dijon with a Master’s Degree in vineyard studies, to join the team as Cellar Manager. In 2010, Yannick became Co-Director of the estate and today represents, along with the founder, the spirit of Domaine Prieure Roch. The distinctive Prieure Roch logo that graces each bottle is borrowed from the winemaking hieroglyph of Ancient Egypt and was inspired by Roch’s time working in the Nile Valley. The two yellow mouths, three red eggs (three grapes, each one with its own unique shape) and the papyrus leaf form an abstract illustration that symbolizes Roch’s winemaking principles. In November of 2018, Henri-Frederic Roch passed away at the age of 56. The unique winemaking philosophy of this iconic Burgundy winemaker lives on, immortal, through the estate’s distinctive cuvées.
The vineyards of Domaine Prieure Roch are scattered across several different appellations of Burgundy’s Cotes de Nuits and Cotes de Beaune regions. Each parcel is treated on an individual basis and the viticulture tailored to the needs of each terroir. In the northern area of the Cote de Beaune, in the appellation of Ladoix Villages, the “Le Clou” plot is planted with 4 acres of Pinot Noir wine and just under 1 acre of Chardonnay. This cru was acquired by the estate in 2010 and has since then been trained in the philosophy of Prieure Roch. The vineyard produces delightful, easy-drinking wines full of fresh fruit and a voluptuous texture. Meanwhile the “Le Clos de Corvees” covers 12.8 acres of Pinot Noir vineyards in the Nuits-Saint-Georges appellation, near Premeaux, making it one of the largest single-owner Premier Cru monopole vineyards on the Cote de Nuits. Here, harvest is focused on “millerandés” grapes, which are fully ripe but undersized and thus very concentrated in flavor. These grapes produce powerful, full-bodied, structured and dense wines with a very long finish.
At Domaine Prieure Roch, the grapes are harvested exclusively by hand, often in several passes and with a focus on selection. For some cuvees, “millerandés” (undersized) grapes are chosen. One particularity of the estate is that the team uses whole bunches in the vinification of all of their wines in all vintages. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to harvest only when the stems are fully ripe, generally later on in the season. Not destemming the grapes results in a natural maceration inside of the grape, which leads to a complexity of aromas. Stems also help the yeasts to circulate inside the tanks, which allows for an even fermentation. The musts are left in the tanks for a pre-fermentation maceration before alcoholic fermentation takes place. During fermentation, the team carries out “remontage” a few times in order to activate some of the yeasts. Instead of a pump, they use a trolley, a tank and an electric left to do this, in order to be as gentle as possible and not to disturb the yeast. “Pigeage” is carried out twice per day by foot, according to the ancient method, since this allows the team to obtain information about each batch, such as cap density and juice temperature, which a machine could not gather. The wines of Domaine Prieuré Roch have gained a cult following around the world for the outstanding quality and genuine, honest terroir expression of its Burgundy wines. This is Pinot Noir that is alive, with incredible energy and a brilliant acidity on the palate.