2023 Digioia Royer

What feels like many lifetimes ago (in 2009), while tasting with Francois Millet of Comte de Vogue, the conversation shifted from his Musigny to some of the up and coming winemakers in the village that were doing impressive work. He strongly recommended Michel Digioa, saying he does not make very much wine, but what he does produce is very high quality.

It was quite the praise from one of the most respected winemakers in the village and as luck would have it, we managed an appointment with Moisseur Digioia the following morning. Inside the small cremated cellar, with barrels stacked to the ceiling, we began tasting Michel’s wines. I remembered the Bourgogne as being lovely, and as we started to get to the Chambolle Musigny wines and ultimately the 1er Crus, I knew this man was serious, as were the wines. The high praise from Millet now made sense.

Since that visit, I’ve been buying and sharing Michel’s wines, with 2023 marking the 15th vintage! These are real insider wines because they take someone introducing them, or tasting them with you, before you might seek them out. The domaine has remained very much under the radar of the years. Reviews from the major critics are almost non-existent which is curious after all these years of turning out brilliant wine! I may have guessed a different trajectory for Michel, but I have a theory….

Year after year, Michel Digioia makes brilliant wine to his own self-reflective standards, obstinately uninterested in outside validation. He calls to mind the intransigent Howard Roark, in Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead, who held the architectural establishment in disdain. To be sure, there is a circus of narcissistic winemakers, pandering to reviewers, and reviewers who exploit their positions and next thing you know, it’s a circus and winemaking has little to do with it.

Michel Digioia floats above the riff-raff and noise of the fine wine industry. For us humble consumers, who appreciate the craft and understand what’s in our glass, regardless of the labels and noise around it, this is an opportunity to enjoy what is nearly a bygone era. If the circus came to these wines and more people knew, the tiny quantities would be snapped up instantly, making them not only more expensive but impossible to get.

These wines are among the best values in Chambolle Musigny today. The Chambolle Vieilles Vignes is produced from a single lieu-dit by the name of Fremieres, planted in the early 1930’s. It delivers a sappy, rich character and elegant power, especially with some time in the cellar. Those that know it quietly scoop it up year in and year out.

As for the other wines, I always tell clients if they see the 1er crus from Digioia Royer, Gruncheres and Groiselles, buy them without hesitation. They are rare!...in a plentiful vintage, there are only 2 barrels of each (appx 600b). The quality here is absolutely first rate! Layers of nuanced red and black fruit, spice, depth, length. Tasting these blind, the quality is that of producers getting well north of $200 for their wines.