Domaine de L'Arlot with Jean Pierre de Smet and Lise Judet
L'Arlot is the former site of Domaine Jules Belin in Premeaux, located just south of Nuits-Saint-Georges. The domaine is owned by Jean-Pierre & Lilo de Smet. Jean-Pierre spent 8 years working with Jacques Seysses at Domaine Dujac before taking over at Arlot in 1986. Jean-Pierre is among an elite group of growers who put a great deal of emphasis on work in the vineyard to improve quality. His ultimate goal is to produce wines of elegance and concentration rather than quantity.
Today, 14 hectares are planted to Pinot Noir for the reds and Chardonnay (and 5% Pinot Gris) for the whites. The average age of the vines is 25 years old; the oldest vines are 50 years old. The domaine owns two Premier Cru monopoles, Clos des Fôrets Saint-Georges (7 hectares) and Clos de l'Arlot (4 hectares).
The wines of Domaine de L'Arlot are aged in one-third new Allier oak and bottled after 16-18 months for the Premier Crus and 14-15 months for the Village wines. The reds are unfiltered.
Domaine Comte Armand with Benjamin Leroux
The Domaine originally belonged to the Marey-Monge family, who began acquiring piece by piece five hectares of magnificent vineyard in Pommard, called Clos des Epeneaux. Comte Armand was given the Domaine in the mid-nineteenth century as part of a dowry. The Armands were not a traditional family of Burgundian vignerons, so they were obligated to use the regisseur system until 1985. It was then that a 22 year-old Canadian named Pascal Marchand was named winemaker and under his expertise Comte Armand has been producing the most exceptional wines of their appellation. Pascal also started a non-profit organization uniting 65 Burgundians to produce biological compost.
Today's winemaker, Benjamin Leroux, states, " I do not make Pinot Noir, I make Pommard." Vinification is largely traditional. There is no recipe, nothing systematic about the winemaking. It is more a comprehension of the vintage and a savoir-faire based on the style and needs of each wine. Benjamin generally destalks 100% and allows 3 to 4 days maceration. The cuvaison with maceration generally lasts from 13 to 17 days. After alcoholic fermentation, the wine is naturally clarified for a few days and then put into roughly 30% new oak barrels. Benjamin does nothing to influence the maceration, which takes its sweet time until the first racking. He generally starts with 3 to 4 cuvees, from young to old vines, each harvested and vinified separately and each contributing specific characteristics to the final assemblage. Fining is done when the vintage characteristics demand it. Wine is generally bottled the following spring after another racking and a three-week clarification in tank. The Premier Cru Clos des Epeneaux wines are powerful, complex, silky and sophisticated. In 1994, the Domaine purchased vineyards in neighboring Volnay and now produce a Volnay Villages and a Volnay Premier Cru Les Fremiets. In 1995 Comte Armand also began producing a Meursault Village Meix-Chavaux, Auxey-Duresses Blanc, Auxey-Duresses Rouge and Auxey-Duresses Rouge Premier Cru. The Domaine makes 4,000 cases annually.
Maison Champy with Pierre Meurgey
The Maison Champy, founded in 1720, was the first ever Wine House established in Burgundy - documents still exist recording the first exports to Belgium shortly after the creation of the company. Some of the cellars owned by the company in Beaune date from the 15th century.
Champy gained a new dynamism in 1990 when it was acquired by Henri and Pierre Meurgey and Pierre Beuchet. All three men are associate directors of DIVA (a distribution company closely connected with the greatest vineyards and estates in Burgundy) and can rely on the wealth of experience of Henri Meurgey, who has been oenologist winemaker and wine-broker for 35 years.
From 1990, their first vintage, the new owners defined TYPICALITY and BALANCE as the essential criteria for the QUALITY of the wines produced by the Maison Champy:
Typicality enables the specific characteristics of each Burgundy area to be distinguished in the different wines produced. This objective of typicality has lead the Maison Champy not to impose one sole style on all its wines, but rather to present a range of Burgundy wines which reflects all the nuances particular to each label of origin.
Balance is the essential characteristic of Burgundy wines, thanks to the natural expression of the Burgundy grape varieties Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on our soils. To preserve and sublimate this balance, Champy is careful never to force the vines or the wines, choosing to favour environmentally friendly means of growing, limiting the yield of our vines, using very gentle and natural winemaking methods and giving the wines the time they need to mature before being bottled (from 10 to 20 months depending on the wines and vintages).
In order regularly to achieve the desired quality levels, Champy converts into wine more than half of its production of the Côte d’Or labels of origin (the grapes and musts bought under contract and the production from the 30 acres of the Champy vineyard).
Under the direction of Dimitri Bazas, the oenologist who joined Champy in 1999, the white wines are fermented and matured in the historic cellars of the Maison Champy in Beaune, and the red wines are made in a new fermenting room to the south of the city.
In addition to the production from its own vineyard, Champy has long-term relations with winegrowers from whom it purchases grapes, musts or wines. This allows us to acquire products from clearly identified plots of vines. When Champy buys wine, the objective is to take over control of the maturing process as soon as possible. To this end, barrels are very often supplied to the winegrowers at the moment of devatting, so that the wine can be obtained with all its sediment and racking can be avoided when the malolactic fermentation is over.
In the vineyard owned and run by Champy, as in those from which grapes, musts or wines are bought, a policy of yield control is exercised. Little or no fertiliser, short pruning and thinning of fruit when necessary all make an effective contribution to the limitation of yields.
Only controlled yields can enable wines to be produced which express with fullness and balance the typicality of Burgundy regions.
The wine-making techniques used by Champy are adapted to suit the vintage, the nature of the grapes and the characteristics of the area of origin. Ideally, red wines should macerate at a cool temperature for four to six days to obtain the colour and the fruit. Then comes the alcoholic fermentation, using natural yeasts. The maximum temperature of 33 °C is maintained as long as possible in open-topped oak vats to extract the best from the grapes. The extraction is done by manual dipping on the one hand and by a few remontages (drawing-off wine from the bottom and reintroducing it at the top) on the other. The vats are covered during the second half of the fermentation, to stabilise the temperature and protect the wine from oxidation.
As for the white wines made by Champy, only some of the Appellations Régionales (Regional Labels) are made in stainless steel vats. All the other wines are fermented in barrels, with a proportion of new barrels varying from 20 % for the appellations villages up to 50 % for the Corton Charlemagne.
Depending on the vintage, the red and white Grands Crus and the best of the Premiers Crus are aged with 50 %, even 100 % of new barrels, the other red and white Premiers Crus with 30 to 50 % of new barrels and the Villages with a maximum of 30 % of new barrels. Champy selects the majority of its barrels from the forest of Allier and from the Vosges. But the method of drying and heating the wood is just as important as its origin. It appears that the ideal is two years of drying in the open air, combined with medium heating of the wood for red wines and medium-strong heating for white wines.
The intrinsic character of the vintage and the growth or cru is decisive in determining the use of bâtonnage for the white wines. Racking is only done twice, once after the malolactic fermentation and once after fining, a few weeks before bottling.
All the wines are bottled after a relatively long time. Whereas bottom of the range white wines are bottled before the next harvest and their red wine equivalents during the autumn following the harvest. The great white wines remain in barrels up to 16 months and most red wines are aged for up to 20 months in the barrel.
All the racking and transfer of wines is done using gravity or the traditional ‘bellows’ method. The bottling itself is done by gravity. All these techniques help considerably in limiting the use of pumps, enable filtration to be light or non-existent, keep SO2 additions very low and minimise the shock of bottling. Consistent with the guarantee of authenticity and typicality of wine origins, the appellation, the vintage and the date of bottling appear on all the corks used by Champy.
Domaine Marc Colin with Pierre Yves Colin
A humble man, Marc Colin sticks close to his vineyards and lives simply in a little-known Côte de Beaune town off the beaten path. But he is the king of St.-Aubin, where he is making some of the most delicious Chardonnays in Burgundy and boosting the reputation of the commune in the process.
The fabled Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet appellations, which are just over the hill to the east, make deeper and longer-lived Chardonnays. But the 50-acre Domaine Colin produces consistently outstanding whites from St.-Aubin and, at $32 to $35 a bottle, they are terrific values. The 1999 St.-Aubin En Remilly (91, $32) is a flavorful and elegant premier cru with lemon, honey and vanilla complexity and a smoky finish.
The Colins have been winemakers for generations, but until the mid-1970s the family sold their wines in bulk to négociants in the region. As Colin's wines met with increasing success, this practice diminished, and three years ago the domaine began to bottle all the wines that it makes from 22 different appellations.
Colin, 57, and his three sons -- winemaker Pierre-Yves, 30, vineyard manager Joseph, 28, and Damien, 24, who handles administration -- treat their St.-Aubins with the same care they do their Montrachet. They also own vines in Puligny-Montrachet, Santenay and four premiers crus in Chassagne-Montrachet, including a small parcel in Les Chenevottes purchased recently.
Domaine Joseph Drouhin with Veronique Drouhin
Véronique Drouhin was born in December 1962 (a great vintage in Burgundy), on the day of the famous annual Hospices de Beaune wine auction.
She studied in Beaune and then went to the University of Dijon. in 1985 she obtained her degree in oenology. After an additional year researching the effects of grape skins on red wine coloration, she received an advanced degree in oenology.
In addition to training at Château de Fieuzal in the Bordeaux' Graves district, Véronique has devoted considerable time to the analysis and study of the unique opportunities and challenges of winemaking in the Pacific Northwest.
Véronique joined Maison Joseph Drouhin in 1987. Through first hand experience in vinification and daily tastings of present and older vintages with her father and Laurence Jobard, she was able to add to her knowledge of modern technology this invaluable treasure of tradition.
1988 : she made the first wine of Domaine Drouhin Oregon.
1989 : as the winery was being built, Véronique took an active part in the planning of the building and made the 1989 vintage in the new facilities.
Since 1988 Véronique is Domaine Drouhin Oregon's oenologist. She spends three months of the year in Oregon, mainly during harvest and fermentation, and at various times of the year for racking, bottling and promotional operations.
When not in the US, Véronique works for Maison Drouhin in Beaune.
She is married to Michel Boss. They have three children : Laurène, Arthur and Louise.
Domaine Geantet-Pansiot with Vincent Geantet
Domaine Jean Grivot with Etienne Grivot
The Grivot family originally came from the Jura region in the north-east of France. They came to Burgundy at the end of the 18th century and grew vines in Nuits-Saint-Georges, Corgoloin and the Hautes Côtes. Joseph Grivot founded a wine company in Vosne-Romanée, but it was his son Gaston who developed the domaine. In 1919 Gaston sold vines in the lesser areas to buy a large parcel of the grand cru Clos de Vougeot. You can still see the gate he built today. He was one of the first oenologists to graduate from Dijon University in the 1920s, followed by his son, Jean, a few years later. Together they made the Grivot name famous in the wine world. Like his father, Jean acquired a parcel of grand cru land, 31 ares of Richebourg, in 1984 and was succeeded by his son Etienne in 1987.
Etienne Grivot studied viti- and viniculture in Beaune and did work experience in California and elsewhere in France. This experience made him feel that the domaine's wines could be improved. It was important to go back to basics and restore the soil's natural balance, study yields, harvesting dates, pre-fermention maceration, fermentation temperatures, the use of oak, …that is do everything possible to make pleasurable, fine, rich, full wines for long-term ageing which reflect Burgundy's unique terroir.
Domaine Grivot prefers older vines for their small grapes. The average age of the vines is 40 years or more. Domaine Grivot has small plots and prefer to replace vines individually to maintain a high average age. Every time a plant dies it is replaced systematically. Vines are planted so that there are 11,000 stocks per hectare. The high density and competition between the vines encourages low yields and obliges plant roots to dig down deeply to draw water.
Domaine Grivot employs an organic approach to viticulture. Very little fertilizer is used and compost is added to improve the soil. They work more than 85% of the soil and do not use weedkiller, apart from the odd exception. Treatments are soundly reasoned out (la lutte raisonnée) and kept to a strict minimum. They prefer to treat disease using natural methods which respect the environment. For some time now sexual traps have been used to stop grape caterpillars from attacking the fruit. The traps give off the scent of female hormones which attract and confuse the male caterpillars stopping them from finding females and reproducing.
At the end of August of the beginning of September the vines are thinned by removing grapes on over-productive vines, verjus (the second crop of grapes), and any grapes affected by gray rot. This difficult task is very important to quality. The ripeness of the grapes is studied daily as it determines when the crop is to be picked.
Pickers are given strict instructions to only pick perfectly ripe, healthy, grapes. 95% of the grape stems are removed at the winery. The few stems that are left give a better texture to the floating cap of grape skins and make it easier to extract tannin and color through punching-down and pumping-over.
Pre-fermentation lasts about 4 days. The wild yeasts start fermenting naturally. Fermentation temperatures are strictly controlled together with the daily punching-down and pumping-over. Vatting lasts on average 16 to 18 days.
Domaine Grivot looks to make harmonious, well-balanced wines. To do this it is important to take into account the particularities of the vintage and keep the vinification method flexible.
The wines are raised in oak casks for 18 to 20 months. A third of the wine is in new oak from the Allier, Nièvre and the Vosges. On average, the wines are racked twice during this period. They are bottled without being fined or filtered. Domaine Grivot only makes and bottle wine from their own estate.
Domaine Leflaive with Anne-Claude Leflaive
Domaine Leflaive has become legendary in Burgundy's white wine history. In 1735 the family Leflaive were already vineyard owners in Puligny-Montrachet. In 1905, Joseph Leflaive inherited the vines and began to develop them with his manager Francois Virot, who is one of the men responsible for making Burgundy's reputation. Upon Joseph's death, his son Vincent became involved with the Domaine and charmed the international market with his wines and joie de vivre. Upon Vincent's death in 1994, his daughter Anne-Claude was named sole manager of Domaine Leflaive. Anne-Claude is well-equipped with a degree in oenology, fine wine in her veins and the able assistance of Cellar Master and winemaker Pierre Morey and Head Viticulturist Jean-Claude Bidault.
Domaine Leflaive is a 22 hectare property in Puligny-Montrachet with Grand Crus vineyards, Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet, Batard-Montrachet and Bienvenues-Batard Montrachet. Premier Crus vineyards are Les Pucelles, Le Clavoillon, Les Combettes, Les Folatieres and Blagny (for red). Village appellations include Les Grands Champs, Les Tremblots, Les Brelances, Les Nosroyes and La Rue aux Vaches. Les Houlieres is their Appellation Bourgogne. Vines are planted with the Chardonnay grape and cultivated biodynamically. Hand harvesting is followed by 12 month fermentation in oak barrels, of which 30% are new each year. Batonnage (lees stirring) takes place from Oct-Dec. Wines are cellared in stainless steel tanks for natural clarification and settling, and bottled approximately 18 months after harvest. Anne-Claude recommends opening Domaine Leflaive's wines as follows: "Villages Appellations from 3-4 years and up to 8-10 years; Premier Crus from 5-6 years and up to 15-20 years and wines from the Grand Cru Appellations from 8-10 years, and up to 20-40 years, or, in great vintages, they can keep even longer."
Domaine Hubert Lignier with Romain Lignier
With his fuzzy beard, brown jeans, old jacket and sneakers, Romain Lignier looks like a college student on spring break. But behind the laid-back facade is a determined Burgundian grower, who is in charge of making wines from 13 appellations at his family's 20-acre domaine, which includes a 2.5-acre parcel in the grand cru Clos de la Roche.
The 31-year-old Lignier is eager to prove himself, and his wines reveal a definite house style: They are dark and intensely flavored, firm and tightly wound -- even in the lighter 2000 vintage. "It's important to show the terroir, but the winemaker is also important," said Lignier.
In 1991, he took over winemaking duties from his father, Hubert, who is 65 years old and remains active at the domaine. Some traditions remain strong: To make his wines, Romain drops down to his neck in the fermenting vats and, naked, treads the must, grapes and "cap" (the solids that form during fermentation) to help extract color and flavors.
Maison Louis Jadot with Jacques Lardiere
It is from its land that Burgundy gains its richness and diversity. The originality and characters of the wines stem directly from the grapes. At Maison Louis Jadot the choice of the grapes is our number one priority; our philosophy is to respect the origin of the grapes. Therefore the villages and growths of Burgundy are individually expressed in all the wines that carry our name.
Maison Louis Jadot controls a 105 hectare "domaine" in Burgundy with more than 70 hectares in the Côte d'Or, exclusively in Premier and Grand Cru. In fact, this domaine is divided in 4: 1. Domaine Louis Jadot"; comprising 37 hectares in the Côte d'Or and 36 hectares in Beaujolais (Château des Jacques); 2. "Domaine Gagey";comprising 8 hectares in the Côte d'Or; 3. "Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot"; comprising 16 hectares in the Côte d'Or; and 4. "Domaine du Duc de Magenta"; comprising 9 hectares in the Côte d'Or. Moreover, we have established a strong, long term partnership with many wine growers who allow us to vinify their grapes broadening our range of appellations.
The Château des Jacques, bought in 1996, comprises 27 hectares (67.5 acres) of Moulin à Vent and 9 hectares (22.5 acres) of Bourgogne or Beaujolais-Villages Blanc.
The Moulin à Vent vineyard is divided into 5 separate Clos: Grand Carquelin, Champ de Cour, Les Thorins, La Roche et Rochegrès. They are all situated near the famous MOULIN A VENT on the hill sides of the appellation, near Fleurie.
The Bourgogne Blanc or Beaujolais-Villages Blanc vineyard is a "Clos" of 9 hectares (22.5 acres) called the "Clos de Loyse".
Our vines are cultivated with a constant respect for the environment. We believe in restricted yields to practice wines of "terroir". We must also respect the microbic life and soil balance by several techniques (pruning, green harvest...) and by restricting treatments to a maximum. A rational culture, an integrated protection tending to a bio culture are our aims.
Our winemaking facility in Beaune, "la Sablière", is one of the biggest and most advanced in Burgundy and was built to maximise the expression of "terroir" (soil) in the resultant wines. We vinify all the grapes coming from our own vineyards as well as those bought under contracts with other growers.
Our vinification techniques are quite simple and based under a strong principle: to respect the "terroir" expression. The development of a classic Burgundy is a long process that must be followed with considerable care and patience to allow the wine to evolve naturally. Human intervention is kept to a minimum at each stage of the winemaking process. We do not want to impose a common style on all our wines. On the contrary, we encourage each wine to develop its own personality.
To produce little but only the best.
Côte d'Or, Mâconnais, Chalonnais and Chablis wines. All our vines are harvested by hand in order to make a first selection. Grapes arrive at the winery in small baskets to avoid damage and are put on sorting tables for a second selection. Then vinification can start.
For the PINOT NOIR grape, which is the only grape variety used for the production of red wines from Burgundy (the Gamay grape is blended with the Pinot Noir for the Bourgogne Passe tout Grains only) : de-stemming of the grapes (separating berries from the bunch) followed by a long maceration in open wooden or stainless steel tanks, or auto-vinification vats for about 30 days. The alcoholic fermentation takes place during this period and is done as naturally as possible without the addition of cultured yeasts. It usually lasts for a minimum of 25 days and highish temperatures are encouraged for maximum extraction. During this period, each vat is punched down (mixing the grapes skins massed at the top) twice a day.
Then, the malo-lactic degradation is made in 228 liter French "Barriques". It takes 10 to 20 months of ageing in barrels to permit a natural clarification of the wines. We use an average of 30% of new oak barrels.
There won't be any fining prior to the bottling and only a very light filtration will be done if absolutely necessary.
For the CHARDONNAY grape, the only grape variety used for the production of white wines (the Aligoté grape variety is used only for the Bourgogne Aligoté): Grapes are pressed and the juice is put into stainless steel tanks and allowed to settle for a few days.
As soon as the alcoholic fermentation starts, the must is put into 228 liter French Barriques to complete fermentation and partial malo-lactic degradation. The ageing time (10 to 20 months) will permit a natural clarification of the wines (30% of new oak). A light fining will be done prior to bottling.
Château des Jacques wines. We vinify the Moulin à Vent wines just as we do the red Grands Crus of Côte d'Or: no semi carbonic maceration but a long maceration in tanks with punching down of the caps and pumping over.
Then the ageing is done in oak barrels for 12 months. Each "Clos" is vinified separately for a perfect expression of the "terroir".
The Bourgogne Blanc 'Clos de Loyse' is vinified in oak barrels on the lees with stirring just like a white Grand Cru of the Côte d'Or. Beaujolais Villages
Blanc 'Grand Clos de Loyse' is the only wine to be vinified in stainless steel tanks. This helps to retain the maximum freshness in the wine.
Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg with Marie-Andre Mugneret
(reprinted with permission from www.jancisrobinson.com)
Even a casual flick through any guide to Burgundy suggests there's something a bit different about the Domaine Georges Mugneret in Vosne-Romanée.
It's not the word 'domaine', which simply means it's the usual complicated tangle of inherited vines and cellars owned and operated by one of the hundreds of proud families who owe their living to this most blessed corner of eastern France. It's the unique phrase underneath the name and address of this domaine that's so telltale: 'Fermé le mercredi' (Closed on Wednesdays).
You need a good working knowledge of the French education system to work this one out though. To the dismay of many a would-be weekender parent, French schools operate on Saturdays but close on Wednesdays so as to give the pupils (or teachers?) a midweek break. The Domaine Georges Mugneret closes on Wednesdays because it is run entirely by mothers, who have deliberately chosen to put their children before their work.
But this is no hobby farm. The mothers in question are the personable widow and two daughters of Dr Georges Mugneret - Jacqueline, Marie-Christine and Marie-Andrée, the younger sister by nine years. These are women for whom the French word sérieux, with its connotations of diligence and responsibility rather than gloom, seems made. (I was not at all surprised to discover on my visit that Madame Mugneret senior had been a teacher; I'd guessed as much when Marie-Christine carefully wheeled my luggage cart way back into the bowels of Dijon's airport when she came to meet me - no social hooligan she.) Madame Mugneret is still distinctly pretty and has a ready smile and the air of one who has delightedly let go of the reins. The Maries are more earnest, very dedicated, anxious to do what is right not just by the wines but by people too. Both scientists by training, they are the opposite of hysterical, the sort of people you would choose for your lifeboat rather than your hen night [that's what we call the party with girlfriends before you get married]. Marie-Andrée, I would guess, is the more passionate. She is a fanatical cook (during my visit she was camping out at the family house in Vosne while her own kitchen in Gevrey-Chambertin was being remodelled, to include a low-level worktop for her daughters). And she dreams regularly of Noirmoutier, the island off the Atlantic coast where they holiday and she met her husband. 'Burgundy has everything,' she sighs, 'except the sea.'
These three well groomed women have been running the domaine since the tragically early death of the dynamic doctor in 1988 and are now widely admired as some of the most punctilious producers in a village known the world over for the likes of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Domaine Leroy and retired master winemaker Henri Jayer (who wrote a flattering inscription to the Mugneret daughters in a recent book).
It is impossible to write about this domaine without mentioning its recent history for, without its being either mawkish or spooky, Dr Mugneret is still omnipresent. He's still at the family table where Madame Mugneret cooks a copious three-course lunch for her daughters every day and delivers her perceptive tasting notes almost as a medium would: 'My husband was always a bit sceptical, unlike most people, about the '83s,' she muses over an obdurate Nuits Chaignots 1983. And he's certainly in the cellar two floors below: 'In my dreams he is on a train. I imagine asking him things,' admits Marie-Christine, as though almost shy of admitting to such a flight of fancy.
Georges Mugneret was the son of vignerons whose Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg comprised about 12 acres of vines around the village of Vosne-Romanée. In those days intelligent young men did things other than make wine, and he became an admired opthamologist in nearby Dijon. In fact his widow can remember him saying that he couldn't understand why winemakers got so exercised about their fermentations. The worst that could happen was the someone didn't enjoy themselves as much, whereas if he screwed up one of his eye operations...
But, as we know today, it is impossible for a sensitive person to live on the Côte d'Or - the famous ribbon of 'golden slope', just half a mile wide and 20 miles long, of world-famous vineyards gently tilted towards the sun and shared between hundreds of peasant farmers - that is Burgundy's pride and joy, without being 'attacked by the wine virus', as Marie-Andrée puts it. By the time he was 27, in 1956, he had bought a little strip of vines in one of the Côte's most famous (if often famously disappointing) Grands Crus, Clos Vougeot, and Domaine Georges Mugneret was born. He claimed he did it because his parents had earlier been forced to sell their holding in this ancient walled vineyard, but by the time he died he owned more than seven acres in five different appellations, as well as having taken over his parents' domaine.
Dr Georges Mugneret was clearly a man who liked to do things well. In fact it was only a matter of a few years before he was even more anxious than his neighbours about the progress of his wines in the family cellars beneath his parents' house in the narrow rue des Communes (sandwiched between those of two of the many members of the Gros family with whom the Mugnerets grew up). 'He was so perfectionist,' Marie-Christine told me. 'It was terrible if ever he climbed up those cellar steps saying 'I've messed up a cuve'. 'Yes,' shuddered Marie-Andrée, before adding ruefully, 'and he's genetically communicated it to us!'
Marie-Christine, the older sister by nine years, had qualified as a pharmacist, was married and had produced the first of the Mugnerets' four female grandchildren (who has already decided she wants to go into wine) when they learnt that Dr Mugneret had only a few months to live. Marie-Andrée was hardly 20 and studying biology as useful preparation for her childhood dream of working alongside her father. She simply couldn't believe it would now never happen.
But the methodical Mugneret nature poignantly came into play. Every Saturday morning there'd be a family meeting and an increasingly serene Dr Georges would instruct his daughters on some new aspect of the domaine. 'Those Saturdays were unreal, as though we were receiving instructions for a journey,' remembers Marie-Christine quietly.
But as the time of departure approached, Dr M decided he was asking too much of his daughters. 'We think he died thinking we'd sell the domaine,' they say sadly. He was determined that if the property was to be sold, then it should be sold whole, and managed by someone he respected. (Already there had been certain overtures from some of their less tactful neighbours: a sly comment after village mass, about some usefully contiguous strip of vines, for example.) Accordingly, he quietly contacted the respected head of one of Burgundy's bigger companies, a man whom the daughters have still never met, and Madame Mugneret has met only once.
This man, whose identity I can only guess at, sounds like a saint. He agreed the deal with Dr Mugneret and, whatever the terms, would have been a lucky man to have got his hands on such prize parcels in some of Burgundy's most precious appellations. After the doctor's death in November 1988 the family had only to pick up the phone to confirm the sale. But this man, amazingly, advised the young women to wait, to have a go at running the domaine themselves and see how they got on. He even offered to put at their disposal someone who would help them, as discreetly as is necessary in one of Burgundy's intensely gossip-prone small villages.
The daughters, and their husbands (both professional men who have done more than their share for the domaine), responded. 'We did it because it was something we could do for Papa. It felt as though we were almost doing it with him. His 1987 vintage was already in cask so we felt we owed it to him to get it into bottle. His last, 1988 vintage was in tank, so we had to put it in cask. And so on.' Marie-Christine looks pale and exhausted just describing these first six months, when most of the work in the chilly cellar had to be done at weekends. Madame Mugneret continued the business side in an increasingly neat, feminine office.
And then gradually, once they realised there were no rich pickings to be had, their neighbours rallied round. 'After a bit they were ready to help, especially the women. A woman can be respected if she does what she has to in the way a woman can, even if we need help from men for the heavier tasks.' (The Mugneret vines have always been tended by others, either part-time employees or sharecroppers, so continued supervision is all that is needed from Marie-Christine who is chief viticulturist.) The sisters' husbands Eric [Teillaud] and Loïc [Nauleau] manhandle the barrels, for example, and the all-important truck drivers know they won't be able to visit the 'domaine des femmes' on Wednesdays and that they won't get a helping hand with the loading. 'But,' says Marie-André with some pride, 'they know the papers will always be in order, and that, unlike some other producers, we're happy for them to call between 12 and two. And, you know, a smile makes up for a lot.'
The Mugneret wines, which have always belonged to the gentler, less flamboyant school of red burgundy which I personally favour, seem to me taste even brighter and truer today than prior to 1988, although I was not so foolish as to mention the F-word to them. 'We don't like it when our wines are described as feminine,' says Marie-Christine firmly. 'First, we respect Pinot Noir, its finesse and delicacy,' says Marie-Andrée. 'Expressive, that's what our wines are.' 'An iron hand in a velvet glove - you know that expression?' 'We respect terroir.' 'We don't want all our wines to have the same taste, or even structure.' 'You have to bring them up just like children; they can't all reach the same level.' 'Like kids, you bring them up how you can, not always how you'd like.' 'And you always have surprises! Especially in cask.'
Inevitably, I wondered what changes the daughters have made, although they'll admit to very few. The sorting table is the most obvious. It allows them to eliminate rotten or unripe grapes, especially useful in 1993. ('Do you remember that Sunday walk through the vineyards in June, seeing all that mildew?' asks Marie-Christine of her sister. 'I thought it was a catastrophe, that we wouldn't manage to get a single decent grape into the cuverie.')
And there is another piece of modern winemaking equipment, an automatic pigeur, a machine that replaces the human stomping down of the 'cap' of grapeskins that floats on top of the fermentation vats, to extract colour and flavour. This is the direct result of their most memorable experience during their first solo vintage, the torrid 1989 harvest.
Dr Mugneret had always taken on the guys who did the pigeage for his neighbour Bernard Gros, so his daughters did the same. They would hose down their purple bodies chez Gros, wrap a towel round their middles and hobble along the backstreet to the Domaine Georges Mugneret. Some supervision and direction of this risky operation is needed, for the atmosphere above the vats is sodden with alcohol and carbon dioxide and the liquid inside is horribly sticky and slippery. So when the team arrived, they asked brightly, 'Where's the boss?'
They were absolutely horrified to find it was the Mugneret sisters who felt they ought to oversee this dangerous operation. Like all good Burgundians, these men believed that nothing other than human flesh should be allowed in contact with something as precious as a grand cru burgundy. There was much hopping from foot to foot before those feet were persuaded to get to work, and they were eventually replaced by a machine that cannot drown and does not blush.
Although nowadays one can think of another dozen - well, half-dozen - domaines run by women (Leflaive, Leroy, Chandon de Briailles, Ghislaine Barthod, Anne Gros, Esmonin), Burgundy has never been at the cutting edge of female emancipation. The sisters told me how people on 'La Côte' used to say 'poor Georges, to have only girls'. But he always had a great respect for women, not least their tasting ability (in the cellar he would always listen even more acutely to the comments of Madame than Monsieur Vrinat of the Parisian three-star restaurant Taillevent, for instance). 'Be warned,' he would say. 'One of these days it'll be women who rule La Côte - and don't underestimate how they'll manage to combine that with family life too.'
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti with Aubert de Villaine
Considering the fact that millions of acres of Mother Earth are planted to vines, it is amazing to think that only this small parcel of Burgundy produces grapes that make the most celebrated, expensive, revered red wine in the world. Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, known as DRC, is made up of Grand Cru vineyards in and around the Cote de Nuits village of Vosne-Romanee. The 63 acre estate includes the two monopole vineyards of La Tache and Romanee-Conti, as well as Richebourg, Grands Echezeaux, Romanee-Saint Vivant and Echezeaux. In addition, tiny parcels of Montrachet and Batard-Montrachet are owned. The man whose awesome responsibility it is to oversee this priceless real estate is elegant, soft-spoken Aubert de Villaine, who is the third generation of his family to co-own the Domaine. He shares DRC's management with Henry Roch, from the Leroy family who are co-owners. The vineyards date back to the 12th century and have a history as colorful as an epic novel. Madame Pompadour once tried to buy the domain only to be out-bid by the Prince de Conti, who not only refused to sell any of his wines but declined to share even a single bottle with friends. One DRC wine, Romanee-Saint-Vivant, was credited by court doctors with saving the life of Louis XIV and it is said that Napoleon never went into battle without first drinking his favored Richebourg.
Aubert works alongside winemaker Bernard Noblet to preserve the DRC philosophy: "If we bring perfectly balanced, healthy fruit from the vineyards, the work of the winemaker is to be as simple as possible-to not put his own imprint on the wine. The goal is to put into the bottle a wine that has had almost no manipulation. This is done by trying to do every gesture as perfectly as possible." The Domaine believes in late picking, partial destalking, very long fermentation, new oak aging and minimal racking and filtration. The renowned wines that emerge from 'the pearl in the middle of the Burgundian necklace' are: Romanee-Conti (625 cases), La Tache (2,000 cases); Richebourg (1,200 cases), Romanee-St.-Vivant (1,800 cases); Grands Echezeaux (1,200 cases); Echezeaux (1,500 cases) and Montrachet (200 cases). That is only 8,525 cases to be shared by the world!
Domaine Roulot with Jean-Marc Roulot
An illustrious name in Meursault for many generations, Domaine Roulot currently owns a total of 10.74 hectares of vineyards in Meursault, Auxey-Duresses and Monthélie. Three-quarters of their production is white wine and one-quarter is red. For more than 170 years Domaine Roulot has been an important presence in Meursault. It was only in the 1920's and 30's, however, that the family, led by Paul Roulot, became grape growers as well as winemakers and distillers. Paul's son Guy was one of the first winegrowers in Meursault to vinify his vineyard parcels separately. Today, Guy's sons Michel and Jean-Marc are responsible for business activities and viticulture/winemaking, respectively.
The average age of the vines is 25-35 years. Fermentation and vinification of the white wines is entirely in barrels; aging ranges from 10-12 months for Bourgogne Blanc and up to 18 months for Meursault Villages and Premier Cru. Twenty to thirty percent new wood is used, depending on the wine and the vintage. The wines undergo aging on the lees, racking after malolactic fermentation and estate-bottling.
Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé with Jean-Luc Pépin
Jean-Luc Pépin graduated from a German business school in 1980 and began his career in the wine industry with negociant Joseph Drouhin in Beaune. In 1988, he joined Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé in Chambolle-Musigny and was responsible for the sales and marketing of the winery. Together with a team of talented individuals, vineyards manager Eric Bourgogne and cellar master/oenologist François Millet, they have made some dramatic improvements to the vineyards and to the cellars which has resulted in the winery being knwon as one of the bright shinning stras of Burgundy".
Domaine de la Vougeraie with Pascal Marchand
Domaine de la Vougeraie is comprised of the finest vineyard plots acquired over the years by Jean-Claude and Claudine Boisset since 1964 when Jean-Claude and his father dug by hand to plant the vineyard “Les Evocelles” in Gevrey-Chambertin. Since then a total of 37 hectares from the Cote de Beaune and the Cote de Nuits have been pieced together to create an impressive domaine which takes its name from Vougeot - the terroir which is at its heart, where the Boisset family resides and where some of its most prestigious appellations are found.
The 1999 vintage was the first produced at Domaine de la Vougeraie and it was especially significant for as it coincided with the hiring of Pascal Marchand as manager and winemaker. Pascal, a 37 year old Canadian, earned Burgundian fame during his fourteen year tenure at Domaine du Comte Armand in Pommard. He brought his winemaking experience to bear on the new and diverse raw materials at his disposal and partnered his efforts with Bernard Zito, who had done considerable foundation work as manager of the Boisset vineyards for the previous fifteen years.
Nearly a third of the Domaine’s vineyards have thus far been reconverted to organic farming, the harvest is done by hand and grapes are sorted by hand at the recently refitted winery, centrally located in Premeaux-Prissey. After gentle de-stemming and vatting in new temperature controlled wooden vats, alcoholic fermentation, triggered by natural yeasts, takes place over 6 – 8 days while the cap is broken manually twice a day. Maceration continues for another 10 days as temperatures fall slowly to 26 degrees C. The free run juice and gently pressed wine are combined and coarse lees are allowed to settle before transfer to barrels from the Allier and Nevers forests, 30% of which are new for Village wines, 40% for Premiers Crus and 60% for Grands Crus. The wines are just now beginning to be bottled without fining or filtration. The packaging reflects the richness and noble simplicity of the wine’s heritage.
