FRANCE

DOMAINE JP & BENOIT DROIN,  AOC CHABLIS

“Over the last five or six years, Benoît Droin has really ratched up SYLVAIN PATAILLE, Sylvain Pataille begun his adventure with wine early  the quality. I cannot exaggerate how often Droin’s wines end up the best of the flight during the annual “Burgfest” blind tastings. Again, and again, they shine against stiff competition” Neil Martin Vinous Media, August 2018.

It may seem that the wines of J.P. & Benoît Droin need no introduction – their distinctive, stylish labels displaying the range of 1er and Grand Cru bottlings, look familiar to many of us. Without doubt, this is a well-established Domaine, firmly positioned among the leading producers in Chablis.
But, as always, we like to look behind the labels... In this case, discovering a young, energetic winemaker, who not only follows in the footsteps of his father, but also puts his own stamp on the wines he makes. Benoît is the 13th generation carrying on the family legacy and making wines in Chablis. He farms 26 hectares of Chardonnay, with parcels in nine 1er Crus on both banks of Serein, five Grand Crus, Chablis Village mostly on Kimmeridgian limestone and Petit Chablis. Searching for site expression, precision, and freshness, he reduced proportion of the wood, reserving the new oak barrels for the Grand Cru bottlings.

DOMAINE PATTES LOUP,

THOMAS PICO, IGP LOIRE

Thomas is a third generation wine grower in Chablis. The winery is based in Courgis where, apart from Pico’s family, the only other grower to bottle their wine themselves are Pico’s mentors, Alice and Olive de Moor.
Thomas is one of the few producers in Chablis to farm his vineyards organically and harvest by hand. Organic certification (a real challenge in Chablis!) was completed in 2009.

Pico’s wines are unfiltered and vinified without any added acid or yeast. He lets them ferment naturally, and uses just a little Sulphur for stabilization.

Sylvain Pataille begun his adventure with wine early on in life, while helping his grandfather tending to a small plot of vines, near their family home in Marsannay, Côte de Nuits. In 1999 he started his own project, with only one hectare of vines. He now farms 15 hectares, mainly within AOC Marsannay and some AOC Bourgogne near Chenove. Highly regarded as a winemaker, Sylvain could easily make wines in one of the more prominent Burgundian appellations. Instead, he proudly says: “Marsannay is enough for me (...) I know a lot about Gevrey Chambertin, but this is my village”.
Sylvain’s great passion remains Aligoté, of which he favours the rare, low yielding clone - aligoté dorée. Although (unusually for this part of Côte d’Or) Sylvain makes quite few outstanding white wines, his Marsannay Rouge and Bourgogne Rouge are among the best value reds in Burgundy.

DOMAINE LOUIS CLAUDE DESVIGNES, AOC MORGON

We first heard about Loius Claude Desvignes from our good friend German Blanco of Quinta Milu. Desvignes family are 8th generation vignerons, working 13 hectares of vineyards, located in the Montagne de Py – at the very heart of the appellation Morgon. In early 2000’s the siblings Claude Emmanuelle and Louis Benoit took over from their father Louis Claude Desvignes – with an intention to continue his pioneering work of making singular, terroir driven wines, as well as establishing their own connection with the land they inherited. The Domaine was converted to organic farming and Louis Benoit has chosen to make his wine in a traditional Cru Beaujolais way – slow and cool fermentation, with gentle extraction, aiming to capture all the primary aromas and freshness of the fruit. Continuing in his father’s footsteps, Luis Benoit makes an elegant, age worthy wines– “a Gamay to keep” ... However, he also believes that: “great wine is the one you can drink at any stage (...) because it will always reveal something new (...)”.

For over half of the century, this iconic Domaine in Jura was known as the largest family run winemaking venture in the region. The four siblings of the Rolet family continued the work of their father Desire Rolet, who became a full time vigneron in 1951.
For decades, the three brothers and a sister worked tirelessly, increasing the family holding to over 60 hectares of the best plots in AOC Arbois, Côtes du Jura and l’Etoile.
However, the time does not stand still... 2018 marks a new chapter in Rolet history, with a long anticipated change of the ownership. The new proprietors are from Burgundy and bring a terroir focused approach to the winery. Much needed work has started in the vineyards, with a lot of care given to the old vines and the estate is now being converted to organic farming. While preserving the heritage and the spirit initiated by the Rolet family – the new owners work with quality in mind and recent vintages are showing it!