FLOAT 100 · Wine · No. 13
Domaine Armand Rousseau Chambertin Grand Cru 2015
From the largest holding in Napoleon's favorite vineyard, one of the first Burgundy families to bottle its own wine made a 2015 so structured that the winemaker's daughter told a critic to mark it 'X' and forget it for twenty years.
- Maker
- Domaine Armand Rousseau
- By price in wine
- 29 of 100
Create a free account to see every recorded price and every grade.
Create a free account- Producer
- Domaine Armand Rousseau, Gevrey-Chambertin, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy
- Wine
- Chambertin Grand Cru 2015, 100% Pinot Noir
- Holding
- About 2.55 to 2.56 hectares of Chambertin, the largest of any owner, in four parcels
- Winemakers
- Eric Rousseau (in charge since 1982) with his daughter Cyrielle (since 2014)
- Vintage
- 2015: a record-hot Burgundy summer; picking a little earlier than usual; about 20% less wine at the domaine
- Oak
- 100% new oak for the 2015 Chambertin; about 18 months in barrel
- Critics
- 98 and 98+ Wine Advocate; 98 Burghound; 97-99 Vinous (barrel)
- Appellation
- Chambertin AOC, created 1937; about 13 hectares in production
- Format
- 750 ml bottle
Bertin's field
Chambertin is a Grand Cru vineyard in the commune of Gevrey-Chambertin, roughly in the middle of a block of nine Grand Crus that all carry 'Chambertin' in their names. It lies above the Route des Grands Crus, bordered by Chambertin-Clos de Beze to the north, Griotte- and Charmes-Chambertin across the road and Latricieres-Chambertin to the south. The appellation was created in 1937.
The names are old. Monks from the Abbey of Beze cleared and planted the neighboring Clos de Beze in the 7th century. Legend says a Monsieur Bertin planted the field next door in the 12th century, reasoning that he could make good wine with the same grapes as his famous neighbor; his 'Champ de Bertin' became Chambertin. It was one of Napoleon's favorite wines, and he is said to have insisted on having it even on campaign.
Chambertin is small. In 2008, 13.22 hectares were in production and they made 437 hectoliters, a little under 60,000 bottles, spread across more than twenty owners. The base yield allowed is 35 hectoliters per hectare, slightly lower than for the seven hyphenated Chambertin Grand Crus around it. Of all its producers, Rousseau's wine generally commands the highest prices.
Armand, Charles, Eric and Cyrielle
Armand Rousseau was born in Gevrey-Chambertin in 1884 into a family of small growers, coopers and local wine merchants. He inherited his first vines in 1902, at 18, and his marriage in 1909 brought more vines and the house in the oldest part of the village that is still the domaine. At first he sold in bulk to merchants, like nearly everyone else in Burgundy. Then he began buying great land: Charmes-Chambertin in 1919, Clos de la Roche in 1920 and Chambertin itself in 1921, by one account.
In the 1930s, on the advice of Raymond Baudoin, founder of the Revue du vin de France, Rousseau began bottling and selling his own wine, among the first few Burgundy growers to do so, and after Prohibition ended he was a pioneer in selling to the United States. He kept buying: Mazis-Chambertin in 1937, Mazoyeres-Chambertin in 1940, the Premier Cru Clos Saint-Jacques in 1954, and more Chambertin in 1943 and 1956.
Armand was killed in a car accident in 1959, and his son Charles, who had studied law and then oenology at Dijon, took over a domaine of about 6 to 6.5 hectares. Charles added Clos de Beze in 1961, the whole Clos des Ruchottes in 1978 and more Chambertin. His son Eric joined in 1982 and introduced green harvesting, leaf thinning and mechanical soil work without insecticides. Eric's daughter Cyrielle, trained in geology and viticulture, joined him in 2014. Rousseau's further purchases brought its Chambertin to 2.55 or 2.56 hectares, the largest holding in the vineyard; the last was in 2009.
Today the domaine works about 15 hectares, of which 8.51 are Grand Cru, and makes 11 wines, all Pinot Noir, averaging 63,000 to 65,000 bottles a year, most of it exported.
How the Chambertin is made
Rousseau's Chambertin comes from three parcels within the appellation plus a fourth, Larrey, at the edge of the woods, which can only be worked with a horse and plough. The vines are planted at 11,000 per hectare and average about 40 to 45 years old. The domaine describes the soil as brown limestone and iron-tinged marl, facing south.
In the cellar, the grapes ferment for 18 to 20 days in open stainless steel vats, with pumping over and punching down. The two Chambertins, this wine and the Clos de Beze, are raised in about 100% new oak, against 70 to 80% for Clos Saint-Jacques and 30% for the Clos des Ruchottes; all the wines spend about 18 months in barrel with two rackings. For the 2015, the domaine confirmed that both Chambertins went into 100% new oak.
The domaine itself calls its Chambertin powerful and concentrated, with aromas of chocolate, licorice and small red fruits.
2015: Burgundy's hot year
The 2015 Burgundy season started with almost no winter and a fairly early spring. Flowering began around May 24 in textbook conditions, and the yields set looked 'correct rather than bountiful.' After heavy rain on June 15, weeks of temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius followed, some days reaching 40. Thermometers hit 39.2 degrees in Macon on July 4 and 37.5 in Dijon on August 7, and in July a brush fire burned on the hill above Marsannay. The dryness kept rot away, though oidium was a problem in parts of the Cote de Nuits. Almost 100 mm of rain in the second week of August rescued the young vines.
Harvest came early. Most Cote de Beaune domaines started between September 2 and 4, and the Cote de Nuits about four to five days later. At Rousseau, picking was 'a little earlier than a classical vintage,' and the domaine made about 20% less wine because the berries were so concentrated. 'It's quite a new style of vintage here and we really don't have clear reference point,' Frederic Robert said when he presented the wines at the domaine in December 2016.
Merchants promoted the vintage hard. One critic described the best reds as combining 'the glossy exuberance of the 2009s with the acidity and poise of the 2010s' and some of the structure of 2005, while warning that many whites were heavy. With the 2016 frost then cutting supplies, Burgundy's producers raised prices, and the 2015s came to market about 20% dearer than the year before.
'Score it with an X'
The critics agreed this was the domaine's best wine of the year. William Kelley of the Wine Advocate gave it 98+ in April 2018, calling it 'a monument in the making' and slightly deeper and more harmonious than the Clos de Beze. Cyrielle Rousseau urged him to score it with an 'X,' meaning it should be forgotten in the cellar for two decades, and he advised buyers to heed her. Tasting it blind later that year, he gave it 98 and called it 'the unequivocal highlight of Rousseau's 2015 portfolio,' to drink from 2025 to 2050.
Allen Meadows of Burghound rated it 95-98 from barrel in January 2017 and 98 from bottle a year later, praising its 'explosively long, firm and very serious finish' and guessing it might drink well after only 6 to 8 years thanks to its 'incredible abundance of dry extract.' The Wine Advocate's barrel review in December 2016 and Vinous both gave 97-99. Tasting at the domaine in December 2016, the Burgundy Report found it 'concentrated without any brutality.'
Price and scarcity
No source found gives the number of bottles of the 2015 Chambertin. For scale, the domaine made 42 barrels of Chambertin in 2009 and 19 in the frosted 2016, and it made about 20% less wine overall in 2015.
In February 2026, a lot of four bottles of the 2015 sold for $12,500 in an online sale based in New York, against an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. A US retailer has listed the wine at $2,229.99 a bottle as a pre-arrival item, out of stock when checked in October 2026.
The numbers
- Rousseau's Chambertin holding
- 2.55 ha (domaine figure, of 12.90 ha) or 2.56 ha; four parcels
- Appellation size
- 13.22 ha in production in 2008, 437 hl, a little under 60,000 bottles
- Allowed base yield
- 35 hl/ha
- Vines
- 11,000 per hectare, averaging about 40-45 years
- 2015 production
- Not published; about 20% less wine than usual across the domaine
- Domaine production
- About 63,000-65,000 bottles a year, 11 wines
- Wine Advocate
- 98+ (William Kelley, April 2018); 98 (Kelley, blind, October 2018); 97-99 (barrel, December 2016)
- Burghound
- 98 (Allen Meadows, January 2018); 95-98 (January 2017)
- Vinous
- 97-99
Timeline
Armand Rousseau is born in Gevrey-Chambertin.
At 18, Armand inherits his first vineyards.
Armand's marriage brings more vines and the house that is still the domaine.
Armand acquires his first Chambertin, by one account.
The Chambertin AOC is created; Rousseau buys Mazis-Chambertin.
Rousseau adds to its Chambertin holding.
Rousseau buys its share of Clos Saint-Jacques.
Another Chambertin parcel is added.
Armand dies in a car accident; his son Charles takes over.
Charles buys into Chambertin-Clos de Beze.
Rousseau buys the whole Clos des Ruchottes.
Eric Rousseau joins his father at the domaine.
Rousseau's latest Chambertin purchase brings its holding to about 2.56 ha.
Cyrielle Rousseau joins her father.
Flowering begins in Burgundy.
The Cote de Nuits harvest begins in early September, a few days after the Cote de Beaune.
The 2015s are shown to a critic at the domaine.
The Wine Advocate scores the 2015 Chambertin 98+.
Four bottles of the 2015 Chambertin sell for $12,500 in an online sale based in New York.
The world in 2015
The Swiss National Bank drops its cap on the franc, jolting world markets.
Pope Francis issues the environmental encyclical Laudato si'.
Microsoft releases Windows 10.
Elizabeth II becomes the longest-reigning British monarch.
NASA announces evidence of liquid water on Mars.
Nations agree a global climate pact at the COP21 summit in Paris.
SpaceX lands an orbital Falcon 9 rocket booster for the first time.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2026 | $2,230 | Asking price, not a saleUS retailer pre-arrival list price of $2,229.99 per 750 ml bottle; out of stock when checked. Not a sale. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Domaine Armand Rousseau Chambertin Grand Cru 2015 is number 29 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (13 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- Chambertin takes its name, legend says, from a Monsieur Bertin who planted it in the 12th century to copy his monks' neighboring vineyard: 'Champ de Bertin.'
- Napoleon is said to have insisted on Chambertin even during his military campaigns.
- One of Rousseau's four Chambertin parcels, Larrey, at the edge of the woods, can only be worked with a horse and plough.
- Cyrielle Rousseau asked a critic to score the 2015 with an 'X,' meaning: forget it in the cellar for twenty years.
- Armand Rousseau was among the first Burgundy growers to bottle his own wine, on the advice of the founder of the Revue du vin de France.
- The domaine made 42 barrels of Chambertin in 2009 but only 19 in the frost year of 2016.
- The 2015 Burgundy harvest began in August for some white-wine growers, as it had in 2003 and, for some, in 2007.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026