As prices for a small selection of Burgundian wine producers
continue to fly into the stratosphere, those of us who love Burgundy are
learning that there is more to life than Rousseau. A lot more...
At Justerinis we have long sought to find our own path and
follow producers who we believe in; we are so pleased when these producers
start to get the recognition they deserve. We have recently seen demand for and
prices of Bruno Clair jump significantly as the world wakes up to the
brilliance of this great domaine and are now seeing signs of the same for
Drouhin-Laroze. The key thing these two domaines have in common is great
holdings. In the case of Drouhin Laroze nice chunks of Bonnes Mares, Clos de Beze
and Clos Vougeot. There are plenty of producers who sadly don’t make good use
of their land and others who excel with comparatively minor sites; but in the
end Burgundy is all about terroir and the magic happens when the right sites
get into the right hands. This is what has happened at Drouhin-Laroze.
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We have long believed in this domaine but things have really
started to step up since 2001. Clive Coates suggests that before 2001 the
winemaking was a little too prominent at the expense of terroir, which is a
fair comment, however he is now getting more positive ever year describing them
as “fresher, more individual, more stylish” and awarding some very high scores
in his 3 year retrospective tastings. Jasper Morris also seems to be a fan and
comments that Philippe Drouhin is “a rare Gevrey producer who succeeds with
wines from Chambolle, most triumphantly with his excellent Bonnes Mares.”
Burghound is on board too heaping big scores on these wines in recent vintages
and on some older examples (Clos de Beze 1978, Bonnes Mares 1964 and Bonnes
Mares 1966). It seems that, as is often the case, terroir reasserts itself
given enough time.
The highlights of the Drouhin-Laroze holdings are as
follows…
In Bonnes Mares they have various plots clustered around the
centre of the vineyard, all on the terres blanches as opposed to the terres
rouges. Bonnes Mares is split by a diagonal path which neatly separates the two
different soil types. Wines from the terres blanches tend to be more mineral
and spicy with firmer tannins whereas those from the terres rouges are
typically more muscular and rich but with slightly softer, rounder tannins.
Coates describes wines from the terres blanches as more civilised (which is a
rather nice way of putting it) and according to Christopher Roumier they are
“more spiritual”. It is common to vinify parcels from each soil type separately
and blend, such is the difference.
Chambertin Clos de Beze (1.39 Hectares):
Drouhin-Laroze has one large parcel which runs the full
height of the vineyard next to Pierre Damoy and a couple of smaller blocks down
at the bottom. Their Beze is very fine and elegant; ethereal. Very much a Beze
rather than the typically weightier Chambertin.
Clos Vougeot (1.03 Hectares):
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| Château de Clos de Vougeot |
All of Philippe Drouhin’s Clos Vougeot is situated at the
top of the vineyard, up near Grands-Echezeaux. There is great variation in Clos
Vougeot and the top is widely held to yield finer wines than lower down the
slope. Like so much of this terroir dogma, when you stand in the vineyard this
makes perfect sense. The top part of Clos Vougeot is in the sweet spot of the
slope. Drouhin-Laroze’s Vougeot is powerful and dense but there is a real
brightness to the fruit and vibrancy which marks it out. There is no sense of
heaviness at all, it is a chiselled Vougeot with great line and drive.
We massively believe in this estate and as the enthusiasm of
the critics continues to increase, these wines are starting to look seriously under-priced.
