Winemaker Interview

by Justine Puaud

Friday, March 31, 2023

The next generation at Maison Joseph Drouhin

1 - The history behind Maison Joseph Drouhin is fascinating. Can you give us a quick overview of Maison Joseph Drouhin?

Maison Joseph Drouhin is intimately connected to Beaune and Burgundy. It is here that the family business was established in 1880 by Joseph Drouhin, my great great grandfather, and where its wonderful history has been written especially through the 14 Grands Crus the estate produces. Today it is still held by the 4th (and 5th) generation of the family: my mother Véronique, and her three brothers Frederic, Laurent and Philippe.

My mother joined in September 1986 and quickly went to Oregon for harvest and did vinification at three different pioneer wineries there. In 1987 they bought land in Oregon that became Domaine Drouhin Oregon, and since then she is between Oregon and Burgundy and has made 37 vintages in each growing region.

Today we own 100 hectares (250 acres) in Oregon and 93 hectares (230 acres) in all of Burgundy, acquired gradually over the years. Two thirds of our vineyards are in Premier and Grand Cru sites, and some are among the most famous in Burgundy, such as Clos des Mouches, Musigny, Amoureuses, Griotte-Chambertin, Corton-Charlemagne….

Robert, my grandfather, was one of the first in Burgundy to introduce "culture raisonnée" (doing away with pesticides and other chemicals) and my uncle, Phillipe, moved to organic and biodynamic viticulture in the late 80’s, making Joseph Drouhin today one of the largest Burgundian estates entirely organically farmed, something we are very proud of!

2 - "Passing the baton" - Was it easy for your grandfather to pass the baton to your mom and your uncles? Did everyone find his or her right place at the beginning?

It has not been easy and it took some time and adjustments for each of them to find their own place but it finally happened naturally. Today they all occupy key and complementary positions. Philippe is passionate about viticulture, my mother about winemaking, Laurent and Frédéric on the business side.

3 - What about you? Have you always wanted to be a winemaker? What were your motivations - to work in the winery, work in the vineyards … did it take a few years to realize you wanted to be a winemaker?

Laurène Drouhin: Whenever I was asked in my early twenties if I would be seduced by winemaking one day, I always answered “well I love wine but only to drink and share it”. During my business studies I travelled, met a lot of people from all around the world, worked for Champagne houses where I got the chance to spend time with the winemaking teams and, finally growing up, roots were catching up.

I became more and more sensitive to what Drouhin means to me today: heritage, family, winemaking and sustainability. And this is how I ended up going back to school in 2018 to study viticulture and oenology in Beaune and finally joined the family estate in 2020 which definitely makes sense.

4 - Une affaire mère-fille - Véronique is simply wonderful! How is it to work with your mother? Did she help you realize you wanted to be a winemaker?

LD: She is wonderful! She never pushed me or my two siblings to be winemakers. Both my parents gave the three of us a sensibility to wine and respect for nature. I remember being really happy during harvest when after school we were going to the winery to taste the grapes and the juice. Maybe this is where it all started! Or possibly during her pregnancy as it was harvest time and she might have had a few sips…

I would say like mother, like daughter... and like great wine, always better together! We share a passion for winemaking and a deep respect for the land and the grapes that make it all possible.

5 - Can you tell us a little bit about your winery in Oregon? What is the cuvée Laurène?

LD: The history of Joseph Drouhin is not only rooted in the Côte-d'Or. It has also been written in Oregon in the USA since July 1987, when my grandfather decided to buy land in the hills of Dundee in the Willamette Valley. It was a bold idea but also part of a great pioneering tradition that has always been in the family DNA. This is how Domaine Drouhin Oregon was born, complete with the motto: “French Soul, Oregon Soil”. Our story in Oregon is also the story of a family partnership. Right from the estate’s first vintage in 1988, my grandfather asked my mother Véronique to be the winemaker and my uncle Philippe to plant and cultivate the vines.

So in 1988 they produced the first cuvée of Pinot Noir Dundee Hills. This was a crazy gamble, when they had neither vines nor winery in this lesser known winegrowing area. Today, it is the emblematic cuvée of the domaine, combining balance, elegance, and sophistication. As the first family from Burgundy to venture into Oregon, we have helped change the image and economy of an entire region.

Cuvée Laurène and its 30 vintages are something I am really proud of! I enjoy them more than I have made them... but I am really honored of having my name on this cuvée that is produced entirely from Pinot Noir grown on the family’s estate in the Dundee Hills. The fruit is handpicked into small totes, destemmed, fermented with indigenous yeasts, and then placed into French oak barrels. Once the vintage is safely in the cellar, my mother and I begin the process of selecting barrels which have an extra complexity, length, and depth — barrels which will work together as Laurène. Cuvée Laurène is not only good but it also ages very well since first vintage 1992 that is still stunning!

6 - Does climate change make it more difficult to work in the vineyards now compared to the generations before? What is your opinion about this?

LD: I would say global warming, that is a consequence of climate change, has had a positive impact on the quality of the crops in Burgundy for a few vintages. When we look at my grandfather’s time or early vintages of the 4th generation, maturity was sometimes complicated to reach.

However, we do face a huge immediate challenge with climate change. We have milder winters, dry and hot summers, harvests start earlier and earlier…we really need to adapt to the world’s changing climate, especially while working with nature.

But even more importantly we have to act now to prevent or at least slow this climate change. I am very concerned about this so we’ve just started to measure our carbon footprint to know what we should do to reduce our emissions. I am also very hopeful as we joined a group of French companies willing to be a regenerative business in the future: a company that gives back more to our planet and society than it takes.

7- Did you make some changes in the vineyard and cellar work? Any new projects you would like to talk about?

LD: Well at this point I am still in the learning part, especially because we produce around 110 appellations in Burgundy, which takes almost a life to know about... And I have to say previous generations and our teams have done and still do remarkable work. Thanks to my previous experiences, I am able to bring a little bit more structure to our processes so we can focus even more on the quality of our wines.

I have worked with our Technical Director Jérôme Faure-Brac, on following very closely our growers’ partners to guarantee the maturity we are looking for to have excellent and healthy crops.

As I mentioned before, climate change is a huge 360° challenge so the project is to bring Drouhin towards more sustainability in every step of our process: viticulture, oenology and distribution. 

8 - Are your cousins and siblings thinking about joining Maison Drouhin?

LD: I am the eldest of the 5th generation so it is still too early to know about others joining. They are all having their own experiences for now but we definitely all share an interest in wine on different levels, vineyard or winemaking or business, so hopefully some will join soon!

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Merci Laurène!!!

News from the vineyard - Spring Frosts in Burgundy

April 6, 2022

By Victoire Chabert

Interview with Lucie Germain from Domaine Henri Germain & Fils, Meursault

Domaine Henri Germain et Fils began life in 1973 when Henri Germain – from the same family as Domaine Château de Chorey-les Beaune – decided to set up on his own estate. Henri’s son Jean-François Germain was joined in 2018 by his daughter Lucie who is now helping to run this small (8ha) domaine. Jean-François is married to Sophie, François Jobard's daughter and Antoine Jobard’s sister.  In the vineyards they follow as natural a system of viticulture as possible (organic). 75% of the domaine's production is white wine, and they are among the very best examples of White Burgundy. I conducted this interview with Lucie a few days after the frost of the night of April 3 to 4 which I wanted to learn more about.

1) Can you explain the effect of frost on the vineyard?

There are several types of frosts which occur in different seasons, but we will talk about the spring frost, which we have just experienced. We’re at a moment right now where the weather is getting warmer and the vine starts to grow. It is this rise in temperature that wakes up the sap in the roots, start to flow through the vine, and make them "cry" as we say. [when you see sap dripping from previously pruned parts of the vine]. And following that, the sap will make the buds come out. In these buds, there is water and it is the cells present in the buds that risk freezing when the temperature drops too much. 

The vine can freeze depending on the temperature but it also depends on the vegetative stage of the bud. In fact, the more the vine grows, the less it resists temperatures. For example, a bud that has just emerged with its protective layer can withstand temperatures down to -3 or -4 degrees Celsius (25 degrees F) . But if temperatures drop too low, then it is possible for the buds to freeze and significantly reduce the crop.  

At the moment, and fortunately, the vineyard is not very advanced. But note that it depends on the sector. Some of our vines are more advanced than others.

2) What are the techniques used  to avoid frost?

The first thing is to have a good agricultural sense. The thing to do is to know the so-called prophylactic methods. To make it simple, we will try to prune the vine as late as possible so that the vine will bud as late as possible -  because the more we wait, the more chance of good weather. And if the vine is in “cotton” [where the buds still have their protective covering that looks like cotton balls], it does not risk anything. 

At the domaine, we have 3 people for every 8 hectares. It is therefore difficult to prune everything in 15 days in February (even if it would be ideal). Pruning is one of the tasks that takes us the most time throughout the year in the vineyard. We try not to prune before mid-December. 

Then, you also have to control the grass. If there is too much grass between the rows, it will be in contact with the buds and there will be much more chance that the buds will freeze because there will be too much humidity. 

Finally, we can play with the pruning dates according to the vines’ location by pruning the most precocious vines last. For example, Meursault 1er Cru Poruzot, which is located on the hillside of Meursault, is often our earliest-developing vineyard and is therefore the one that is harvested first. It is important to have a good sense in the choice of pruning schedules according to the different parcels of the domaine. Basically, we want to prune the latest vines as early as possible and the earliest vines as late as possible.

In terms of direct protection measures, we can mention some of them: ridging, water spraying.. but we have bet on moving air with windmills as well as heating with candles and, for the first time, tarpaulins. 

We put candles in the early vines like Perrières and Meursault Village, as well as a wind turbine to aerate Meursault Charmes that we bought with several other wine growers. We also tried for the first time to put a winter cover on to test. But as the vines did not really freeze, we cannot make a comparison to know if it worked or not. 

Disadvantages: the candles are polluting and expensive (note minimum of 10 euros per candle) and we in Meursault have to cover between 300 and 600 hectares minimum; therefore it is a real investment. It would be necessary to find other solutions which pollute less but for the moment we don’t really have them. 

3) Is climate change the cause? 

Spring frosts are partly the consequence of climate change and extreme weather shifts: when it seems like winter is over and the weather gets nice (up to 20 degrees=68F), the vine will grow rapidly. This is also the case for fruit trees and flowers. The high temperatures make nature wake up and start to grow, but then in that vulnerable state, suddenly the temperature drops and we have these dangerous moments.

4) Finally, last week's freeze, more fear than harm? 

Yes, fortunately more fear than harm. We are quite early in the season and the vines are not very budded (again, it depends on the sector). The pinot noir grape variety for example is quite late as well as the rest of the reds which are generally very late. But for the vines on the hillsides which develop a little faster, it can be more constraining. But we are still early in the season and the vines have not grown as much and are therefore less at risk.

Even if it froze on Sunday morning and especially on Monday morning, we were lucky that the days before, the weather was rather nice and windy, so it allowed us to have rather dry conditions and not to freeze the buds. In previous years, freezing was often due to rain the day before or to wet soil, and the humidity went up on the vines and crystallized the buds, thus freezing them. 

In Meursault in any case, more fear than harm, but it is only the beginning of the spring season and the vines are just starting to grow - we are crossing our fingers that we don't have another frost episode. 

Last year, the frost was very present. The domaine lost more than 60% of our harvest, which is quite rare. The vineyard was more at risk because it was at a more advanced vegetative stage and it had snowed the days before to the extent of 2 or 3 cm (1.18 in) of snow. The magnification of the sun’s rays on the frosted vegetation burned the cells of the vine leaves of the young shoots which is what destroyed all the vines, especially those on the hillside and particularly the chardonnay. But for this year, we cross our fingers for beautiful days to come!

Interview with Romain Derey of Domaine Derey Frères

Friday, April 1, 2022

by Justine Puaud

Interview with The Derey Brothers

As I live in Burgundy now, I decided to drive for the first time to Couchey and to visit the Derey family. Couchey is the neighbor of Marsannay, in the northern part of the Côte de Nuits. I met Romain Derey who is a member of the young next generation of winemakers in Burgundy. The family team also includes his parents and brothers Maxime & Pierre-Marie, and together they are building a strong reputation in the Marsannay appellation.

Left to right: Pierre-Marie, Maxime, Pierre, and Romain Derey

1 - Your family is known for being winemakers since 1670 - can you tell me more about your family and the history around your domaine?

You know, in 1670 you were not really a winemaker. You were a farmer, a winemaker, a restaurant owner. At that time, my ancestors were making bulk wine to sell at their restaurant. Their priority was to make a living and not necessarily to make a “good” wine. It was really in 1850, two hundred years later, that Claude Derey was the one who started to truly focus on viticulture in the village of Couchey, in the heart of what was called the Dijon vineyard.

Claude’s son Pierre Derey was in the Resistance during World War 2. He was unfortunately arrested by the Germans and sent to a concentration camp where he passed away a few years later, which was a tragedy for his two orphaned sons, Maurice and Albert (my grandfather), who then took over the domaine in the 1950’s. They had two completely different personalities which was a strength for the business but not necessarily easy on an interpersonal level.

In the 2000s, the estate took a step up with the transmission to my father Pierre, who was joined by my mother Suzanne a few years later. It took many years for my grandfather Albert to accept my mother, who is originally from Rottenburg, in the south-west of Germany, because of the experience of losing his own father to the Nazis. They had to hide their relationship for a few years before he finally accepted it.

2 - You joined your father in 2010. How did you manage the job partition between your two brothers, your dad and your mom? Was it easy?

My oldest brother Maxime is the first one who joined my dad. We all knew he was born to be a winemaker. We almost think he said the word “tractor” before the word “mommy”. He was so passionate about farming and the vineyard, and is the true winemaker between us three. The quality of our wines has been getting better and better since his arrival in 2010. My dad doesn’t always agree with him about his choices but he trusts him.

A few years later, after my studies in business, I decided to join the family estate. I remember seeing my dad in the living room asking me nervously “are you joining us or not?” He was so happy when I said yes… With my background, I decided to take care of sales and building relationships with importers and sales representatives in Europe and in the United States.

My youngest brother, Pierre-Marie, is an artist but is also one of the best tasters I know. It is so annoying to taste with him because he always find mistakes. It is never enough. He does all the communications and marketing but spends lot of time with the pickers during the harvest and with me and my brother during the vinification.

We work really well together. In fact, nearly all of us live together too… My brother and I live on the right side of the house, my mom and my dad on the left side, and my oldest brother lives next door…

3 - Did you make any changes in the vineyard and/or cellar since you took over with your brothers?

The three of us have definitely made changes in the vineyard and in the cellar. However, our goal is not to change the style and the identity of the Derey wines. Maxime decided to stop using the harvesting machine. We plow our vineyards and have entered the second year of our conversion to organic farming. We also decided to limit the filtration of the wine and have recently started to do whole cluster fermentation. Depending on the vintage, we do between 20% to 100% whole cluster.

Our dad was really in a mindset of “laissez-faire”. But he said one day to us “you can do what you want but please never leave the cellar, always taste and make good wines”. It took him so many years to make changes with his dad that he didn’t want to subject us to the same restrictions.

4 - What do you think about the 2021 vintage?

We did 100% whole clusters for this vintage. It was not an easy vintage and there were many potential pitfalls… but we stayed spontaneous, believed in our vision and are happy with the results. My dad said 2021 reminded him of the difficult vintages in the eighties. He said “you had been lucky to only have easy vintages so far”.

5- Last month you were with us at La Paulée de New York. What were your best memories?

It was such an honor and also a dream to experience La Paulée de New York. We just couldn’t believe that we were part of the line-up of amazing winemakers, next to Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg or Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair. We of course had the chance to taste fantastic wines like 2013 Montrachet of Domaine Ramonet, 1990 Vosne-Romanée les Beaux Monts of Leroy. But this Paulée was really about the people. We discovered so many winemakers who didn’t know, all the sommeliers were fantastic and the clients were so generous. I think my craziest memory was sitting next to Chef Léo Troisgros at Wu’s Wonton King on Sunday. You can only experience this kind of moment in New York!

CHARLES PHILIPPONNAT DISCUSSES AN ALREADY HISTORIC HARVEST 2020

September 16, 2020

by Edouard Bourgeois

Through these highly informative videos made by our friend Marie-Pascale, you will learn the ins and outs of the 2020 harvest for the Champenois, starting with the testimony of Charles Philipponnat from the eponymous Champagne house. Charles explains the contrasted nature of the year and goes over the different stages of the season, starting a with a wet winter that proved essential to replenish the water reserve for the months that followed. The historic drought that hit France led to early debudding and early flowering. The precociousness of the vintage is the signature of a year that recorded one of the driest months of July ever. The exceedingly small canopy (the amount of leaves that developed during the growing season) helped reduce the rot pressure but exposed the grapes to sun, resulting in a decrease of 30% of the production due to sun burnt berries. M. Philipponnat also explains how he adapted his viticulture methods through grass management in between the rows of vines. And finally, some exclusive news regarding the illustrious Clos des Goisses where the last rows were just purchased by Philipponnat, now sole owner. The increase is small but symbolic, as the house has been working on acquiring these last rows for 85 years.

Watch the videos here.

The Clos des Goisses, now entirely owned by the Champagne house Philipponnat, is a fully south exposed, unique vineyard.

Christophe Roumier Discusses an Already Historic Harvest 2020

The Pressoir team is proud to present a series of videos brought to us by Richard Betts, our correspondent in Burgundy, who was able to interview some of the most celebrated winemakers of the region. We are really grateful that these talented men and women took the time to share their views on the unprecedented 2020 vintage. Among them, Christophe Roumier, interviewed in his legendary vineyard of Les Amoureuses, a climat classified Premier Cru but believed to deserve Grand Cru status by many, shares some rare and precious news on the vintage. Christophe, with his expert knowledge of the land, explains his strategy on when to pick each parcel, according to the rain that was expected the day after that interview while also touching on the role played by old vines. The winemaker also gives his opinion on the polarizing subject of whole cluster fermentation.

We hope that you will enjoy this video as much as we did. Stay tuned for more of these with other luminaries such as Dominique Lafon, Veronique Drouhin, Jean-Marc Roulot and many more...

Christophe Roumier in his vineyard “Les Amoureuses”

Interview with Arthur Clair

June 18, 2020

by Eléonore Lafarge

Can you give us an overview of your domaine? How long have you been working at the domaine?

Domaine Bruno Clair is a 25 hectares (61.7 acres) based in Marsannay-la-Côte. The majority of the appellations of the domaine are in Marsannay and Gevrey-Chambertin but we farm parcels spread over seven villages of the Côte de Nuits and the Côte de Beaune.

I started working at the domaine in 2017, after my studies. However, I always helped my father during summers and during the harvests. 

Did you make some changes in the vineyard and cellar work when you took over?

When my brother Edouard took over, some changes were made in the vineyards and in the cellar as well. I agree completely with these changes and always try to make things better. 

All our parcels are now farmed organically, even though we do not have any certifications. 

We are always engaged in dialogue with my father and my brother. For example, since we are trying to make fine wine with more complexity, we made the decision to add more whole clusters since 2015.

Do you have new projects for the domaine? 

The next important project we have is to build a new winery after the 2020 harvest. This renovation is necessary because we need more space and therefore we would be more organized. 

Have you always wanted to be a winemaker? Was it an obvious choice to take over the winery or did it take a few years to realize you wanted to be a winemaker?

I always love working outside, with plants or animals. Before choosing to pursue a career in viticulture and oenology, I tried agriculture, which I thought I would enjoy. Then the choice was obvious considering that my father gave me his passion for the vineyards and family traditions. 

What is your general winemaking philosophy?

To me, respecting our soils and terroir is very important. We have to keep life in our soils. For many years, chemicals have been used in Burgundy. Since my father started to plow in the 90’s, we are able to work with soils with biodiversity. 

Another important thing is the selection of the plants we use. This selection will influence the quality of the grapes and hence the wine. Therefore, I try to be very careful with the rootstock I choose for the different parcels. 

Do you have a favorite vineyard to work in? 

I have two favorite vineyards: Clos Saint Jacques in Gevrey-Chambertin and La Rue de Vergy in Morey-Saint-Denis. The landscapes in these two vineyards are amazing. 

With this complicated situation, can you still work in the vineyards and the cellar?

We have been able to adapt to this unexpected situation without any damage to our work in the vineyards. 

Considering the pandemic, we cannot welcome customers for tastings and I have to admit that I miss talking about the wines, our viticulture techniques and philosophy. 

What is being done in the vineyards and the cellar right now?

In the vineyards, we are doing the trellising.  

In the cellar, we are doing some analysis to follow on the cuvées which haven’t completed their malolactic fermentation. 

Does climate change make it more difficult to work in the vineyards now compared to the generations before? Later frost? More hail? 

Climate change has an important impact on the harvest dates and maturity of the grapes. Before, winemakers had more struggles to reach good maturities, whereas today, we have to be careful not to let the grapes over ripen. The grapes have, now, a lot of matter, it is important to make sure the wines don’t have too much tannins or alcohol or are too “heavy”. So, the extraction is lighter than before.

Interview with Mathilde Grivot

June 12, 2020
by Eléonore Lafarge

Can you give us an overview of your domaine? How long have you been working at the domaine?

Domaine J.Grivot is a family estate in Vosne-Romanée. We farm 15 hectares (37 acres) spread in 18 appellations from Vosne-Romanée, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Chambolle-Musigny and Vougeot. Regarding our work in the vineyard, we are farming sustainably all our vineyards. We make every decision according to what the plant needs and what the weather gives us.

As far as winemaking, we de-stemmed all our grapes. We love working with pinot noir. With this grape variety, we are always looking for precision, harmony, balance and freshness in our wines. We love to associate complexity, energy. We like when a wine gives you a thrill...

I started working at the domaine 10 years ago during the 2010 harvest! I have worked with my brother Hubert since that harvest and our parents, Etienne and Marielle are still helping us. Over the years, Hubert and I took more responsibilities. We added a new energy to the domaine while combining our parents’ experience. It's a very nice adventure. 

Did you make some changes in the vineyard and cellar work when you took over?

When I started working with my parents, our desire was to keep an evolution regarding the style of the wines. 

In the 90’s, my father worked on the stability of the wines as well as their ability to age and travel well. This can explain why his wines may have been a bit firm in their early years. When we taste them today, they are still young. In 1997, he focused on communication of the wines with his previous completions still in mind. At the end of the 2000’s, the new challenge was to keep the ageing ability associated with more precision, and more silky tannins while keeping the expressions from each terroir. I am thrilled to see the evolutions year after year. Wines combine freshness, precision, salinity and a graphite and juicy yet sappy side that I love!

In the vineyard, my father made many changes in the mid 80’s when he stopped using acaricides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers. After this big change and a precise monitoring of our vines, we noticed a balance in our soils, a stability in the organic acids which allows us to reach perfect skin maturity and extract more without lacking acidity. 

Do you have new projects for the domaine? 

This has been a family domaine for 6 generations, it is important to us to keep its identity. All of my family members, my parents, brother, aunts and cousins all get along. It is important that everyone remains happy in this family structure. The ones working at the domaine as well as the rest of the family. 

The domaine has had a very good reputation for many years and we continue to establish our notoriety and make the wines evolve towards what we like: freshness, sophistication, energy and resonance. 

Have you always wanted to be a winemaker? What is an evidence to take over the winery or did it take a few years to realize you wanted to be a winemaker?

I have a nice story about this! When we were 8 and 10, my brother and I decided to take over the domaine together. When we told our parents, they were touched! And we never changed our minds!

I feel lucky to have this passionating job at an amazing location with dreamy appellations! I am the 6th generation to take over the estate and I am still fascinated by the complementarity of savoir-faire of my job. 

I was lucky to make vinifications in Pomerol at Vieux Château Certan as well as Domaine Drouhin in Oregon before coming back to Vosne-Romanée. These two amazing experiences made me more open-minded and taught me to always question myself. 

What is your favorite wine? Do you have a favorite vineyard to work in? 

I am not sure I have a favorite wine. What i know is that each wine has its own personality. Among our 18 appellations, some of them are soothing, some are dynamizing. I’m typically choosing the wine I want to drink according to how my day went.

For the last few years, we have been working on long growing seasons and a better extrability. The result of this work is wine with more body and more fruit. For example, we discovered incredible quality in our Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru “Les Pruliers” or in our Clos de Vougeot. We also found out that Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru “Les Chaumes” had a distinctive elegance and our Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru “Les Rouges” was unsuspectedly intense! 

Do you have a particularly memorable wine tasting experience ? 

A part of our vineyards belongs to my grandmother’s sister, Jacqueline Jayer. She kept wines from her winemaker’s years and she shared a bottle of Echezeaux 1947 a few years ago. 

With this complicated situation, can you still work in the vineyards and the cellar?

Covid-19 made everything more difficult. At the domaine, we adopted safety precautions. Now everyone uses their own tools and we practice social distancing in the vineyard. 

As winemakers, we are lucky to have this opportunity because Nature doesn’t wait! 2020 is an early vintage. With our team, we have been able to take care of our vineyards. We are not working in the cellar at the moment since the 2018 vintage is already bottled and the 2019 vintage is still in barrel. 

What is being done in the vineyards and the cellar right now?

The flowering is now over in all our vineyards and we are enjoying perfect weather. The vegatative cycle is harmonious but we’re three weeks early on schedule!  

Right now, we are doing what we call “relevage”. We place the vegetation in the double wire in order to guide it upright. The vine is a creeping plant that would naturally grow on the ground if we didn’t do this.

We also plow our vineyards to eliminate weeds using either a tractor or a horse.

Is it more complicated for a woman to be a winemaker?

Even though there are more and more women managing domaines, it is not easy everyday! We always have to prove that we are able to do it. 

However, I like this challenge. I have a warrior temper and associated with the finesse and feminine sensitivity, it gives great results. We are complementary with men and I think it is important to use everyone's strengths to succeed. This is what my brother and I do and it works very well.

Does climate change make it more difficult to work in the vineyards now compared to the generations before? Later frost? More hail? 

For the last few years, winters are warmer and it tends to kick off the beginning of the growing season at an earlier stage. Summers have been drier and warmer. This makes us reflect on the behavior of the vine in the face of this. What is certain is that we are getting better maturities now than in the 90’s. Since we started with my brother in 2010, we haven't had a bad vintage in 10 years ... We have had early vintages, like 2011 or late vintages like 2013 but no vintage with grapes of poor quality.

Interview with Clothilde Lafarge

May 27, 2020
by Eléonore Lafarge

Can you give us an overview of your domaine? How long have you been working at the domaine?

Domaine Michel Lafarge has been established in Volnay since the beginning of the 19th century. Today, it’s my parents - Frédéric and Chantal (8th generation) - and I (9th generation) who take care of the vineyard and the winemaking. 

We farm 12 hectares of vineyards based in Volnay but spread between the prestigious villages of Meursault, Pommard and Beaune.

Since 2000, all the vineyards of the domaine are biodynamically farmed. The total production is divided into 3 tiers:

One third of regional appellation: Bourgogne Aligoté, Bourgogne Pinot Noir and Bourgogne Passetoutgrain

One third of village appellation: Meursault, Volnay and Côte de Beaune Village

One third of Premier Cru appellation:

• Volnay Premier Cru Clos des Chênes

• Volnay Premier Cru Clos du Château des Ducs Monopole

• Volnay Premier Cru Les Caillerets

• Volnay Premier Cru Les Pitures

• Volnay Premier Cru Les Mitans

• Pommard Premier Cru Les Pézerolles

• Beaune Premier Cru Les Grèves

• Beaune Premier Cru Clos des Aigrots - Red and White

I started working alongside my parents in January 2018. After graduating from a Wine Marketing and Management MBA in Bordeaux, I pursued my studies in the wine world. I studied viticulture and oenology in Beaune while doing an apprenticeship at Domaine Trapet in Gevrey-Chambertin. Then, I wanted to expand my horizons, so I traveled to do a harvest at a biodynamic domain in New Zealand  called Seresin and another harvest at Lingua Franca in Oregon, to eventually come back to the family estate. All of that the same year! 2017 was a busy one for me with three harvests!

Did you make some changes in the vineyard and cellar work when you took over?

As we say in French, on ne change pas une équipe qui gagne - we don’t change a winning team!

I haven’t made big changes yet. I am still learning everyday with my father and my winemaker friends. 

My biggest personal contribution was to bring back the horse for ploughing. I chose to reintroduce this ancient practice as a baby step in the small 1er Cru parcel of Les Caillerets in Volnay. This vineyard has been farmed without any machinery for the last three years. 

I am passionate about horses and did horse riding for years, hence this decision. 

I took over a two century old estate and I think my role is not to change everything. I like the wines made by great grandfather (I had the chance to taste a few vintages), my grandfather and my father. I want to continue in the same traditions. 

Have you always wanted to be a winemaker?  Was taking over the family domain as a winemaker an obvious decision or did you have to think about it?

When I was younger, I never imagined I would take over the domaine. I grew up surrounded by vineyards and wine and I wanted to see something different. That’s why I left Burgundy for a few years only to come back! I studied in a business school. Since I was enjoying wine I made a MBA in wine. As soon as I started studying wine it became an obvious choice to come back to Burgundy and work with my family. 

What is your general winemaking philosophy?

There is no secret, a good wine starts in the vineyard!

By being careful in the vineyard, the grapes give us some love. We have our hearts set on letting the terroir express itself in our wine. For example, all of our Volnay Premier Crus taste different because of the different terroirs. They all have in common some traits of Volnay style such as the finesse and elegance. 

My grandfather started working as a winemaker in 1950. Even at that time, he refused to use any chemical in his vineyard. When my dad started working with him, he discovered biodynamic farming. Today, our 12 hectares of vineyards are farmed biodynamically. I was raised with the idea that we have to respect the land we farm. It is important for me to continue in this philosophy. 

During the vinifications, we are not really interventionist. Fermentation is done naturally with indigenous yeasts. We do a few punch downs and pump overs to get nice tannins. The elevage then lasts for 18 months in our 13th century cellar. 

What is your favorite wine? Do you have a favorite vineyard to work in? 

You can’t pick your favorite child but of course I really like Volnay Premier Cru Les Caillerets because of the work we are doing with the horse. The soil is now softer in the vineyard and these changes make me happy.

I also like Les Lombois, one of our parcels of Bourgogne Passetoutgrain that was planted with half of Pinot Noir and half of Gamay by my great grandfather 92 years ago and never pulled out since!

For the 2018 vintage, I created an unique cuvée “Anthologie” to celebrate the 90 birthday of my grandfather and the vineyard.   

Do you have a special memory of a wine you’ve tasted? 

The most memorable bottle of wine I’ve tasted was a Clos des Chênes 1928 from the domaine. This wine was made by my great grandfather, Henri Lafarge. The first time I tasted it was with my parents, my siblings and my grandfather Michel who was born in 1928!

It was an emotional moment considering the age of the wine, its ageing in our centuries old cellar and the explanations from my grandfather who was telling us about the vintage. It felt like tasting history. 

We shared this bottle at the Troisgros restaurant in Roanne. Pierre Troisgros, also born in 1928 was with us. 

Wine is meant to be shared. This experience was an amazing moment of sharing with family and friends. 

With this complicated situation, can you still work in the vineyards and the cellar?

This situation is disturbing but we are trying to adapt because nature doesn’t wait! We are able to work in the vineyard and in the cellar. But we are being very careful. We provide masks and hand sanitizer for the employees so they can stay safe. 

In April, we bottled the 2018 and we are now done with ébourgonnage in the vineyard to control the yields and help with upcoming pruning. The temperatures are very high in Burgundy this year, so the vineyard is three weeks earlier compared to last year. 

What is being done in the vineyards and the cellar right now?

Currently, we are doing the palissage to make sure the vines are growing straight and get nice sun exposure so the grapes can reach the perfect maturity before the harvest. 

We are working our soils as well. We ploughed our vineyards to get rid of weeds between the vines. 

Is it more complicated for a woman to be a winemaker?

There are more and more women in the world of wine and as winemakers today which is a great change. I actually think being a woman is an asset because we bring more precision in the wines. 

There is a nice solidarity between women in Burgundy nowadays. My friend, Camille Thiriet, created the “Mi filles, Mi raisins” tasting to promote lesser known wine appellations made by women. I am happy to be part of this group of women helping each other. 

Does climate change make it more difficult to work in the vineyards now compared to the generations before?

Climate change is bringing us new challenges and we’re trying to adapt. We have more hailstorms than before and later frost situation as well so we had to find solutions against these.

A few years ago, we would count 100 days after the flowering started to fix the harvest date. Since 2003 and its heatwave, this is no longer a rule of thumb at the domaine. Depending on the vintage, harvest can start 85 days or 120 days after flowering. The harvest date requires a lot of precision. Today, not all our vineyards reach maturity at the same time. We have to adapt by stopping the harvest for a few days. 

We must therefore help our vines cope with this climate change. We are very lucky with our grape varieties. Due to their popularity, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are planted around the world. That proves they can adapt to a lot of environments and weather conditions.

Interview with Camille Thiriet

May 11, 2020
by Justine Puaud

Can you tell us a little bit about your “micro” business?

After several trips to Australia and New Zealand, I moved back to Burgundy and my dream came true! In 2016, I was creating a micro negoce in my garage. At that time, I was making only 2 wines in 7 barrels. My goal was to enhance the lesser-known appellations of Burgundy and be able to produce NO more than 15,000 bottles per year.

Have you made some changes in the vineyard and cellar work since the creation of your domaine ?

As I said, my goal was to be able to produce between 13,000 and 15,000 bottles of wine in the next 5 years. Today, I can say that I achieved my goal after only 4 years!

To give you some history: In 2016, I only had 2 cuvees for a total of 2,000 bottles:
Côte de Nuits Villages Aux Montagnes
Bourgogne Blanc Cuvée Confidentielle

In 2017, I made a 3rd wine: Bourgogne Rouge les Blanches with my own vines from Pommard. I produced a total of 3,500 bottles.
In 2018, the production went up to 6,000 bottles! I added 3 wines in my micro domaine: a Vezelay, a Volnay and a Savagnin.
At the end of 2018, I bought some Aligoté vines in Pommard.
In 2019, I added the Bourgogne Aligoté and 2 news parcels of Côte de Nuits Villages which I am really proud of! The Côte de Nuits Villages Les Retraits and the Côte de Nuits Villages Les Vignottes. Total of the production of 2019 is 13,000 bottles.

Can you tell us a little bit about your Côte de Nuits Villages (from the most elegant to the most rustic)?

The three parcels are between Comblanchien and Premeaux-Prissey.

1. The Côte de Nuits Villages Les Retraits is literally next to Frederic Mugnier’s vineyard, Clos de La Maréchale. It is an elegant wine with a nice aroma of crushed strawberries. In my opinion, this is not representative of a Côte de Nuits Village because it is very subtle and delicate.

2. The Côte de Nuits Villages Aux Montagne is in front of Château de Comblanchien, on the slope. The vines benefit from exceptional exposure to the sun. Based on the geographical situation, it is definitely a terroir of a premier cru. This wine has more structure and more tannins.

3. The Côte de Nuits Villages Les Vignottes faces the Clos de La Maréchale but is on the other side of the road. This is the “big daddy” of the 3 parcels. Beautiful dark ruby color with good tannins. On the palate there is a dominance of dark fruits and raspberry. I love the fact that they are all in the same area but so different. It is a good example of Burgundy and its notion of terroir.

When do you think it is a good time to drink your wines in general?

Ideally with a minimum of 3 years!

Do you have new projects for the domaine?

Now I am in a phase of stabilization. I want to keep control of everything. At this time I cannot increase my production. My partner, Matt, is helping part time but most of the time I have to do everything by myself. There is quite a lot between the grape purchasing, the vinification, the client relationships, etc…

Have you always wanted to be a winemaker?

When I was younger, I always wanted to be the “nose” of a perfume company. I was not really into science... My major in college was literature so after my graduation I decided to enter a Business School specialized in Wine Marketing and Management. After my MBA I knew I didn’t want to work in sales...I moved back to Burgundy and worked with Nicolas Potel. I did the harvest and the vinification. This is where I realized I loved the production side of the wine. I quickly asked if I could buy grapes from him. I tried to convince my partner Matt. He said “no” the first time, the second time and then he finally said yes!! It was in 2014 when we started with our first purchased grapes.

What is your general winemaking philosophy?

I am learning everyday and asking myself consistently if I am doing the right thing. It is stressful but I am learning from my mistakes. I think making wine is like cooking. You need to know your products perfectly to make a great dish! You taste and then you adjust if necessary. All your senses are stimulated. I think the vinification is like the butterfly effect. Every single decision will have a huge impact on your wine. This is the most stressful and important moment in the wine making process. Each winemaker has his/her own identity and his/her own signature.