We began our work with Jean Chauvenet, the founder of this domaine, in 1982 and for over twenty years we participated as the exclusive US importer for the estate’s wines and observed with pleasure as Jean Chauvenet and then, his son-in-law, Christophe Drag, built this domaine into one of the most highly respected producers working the vineyards of Nuits-Saint-Georges. Though an unfortunate misunderstanding caused us to part company in 2004, we explored a renewal of the relationship with the domaine in 2014, and the exceptional quality of the wines convinced us to once again represent this classic estate. With no less than seven premier crus complemented by serious Bourgogne Rouge and Villages-level cuvées, the comprehensive scope of vineyard holdings over their 9.5 hectares is among the greatest in the appellation. The wines of Nuits-Saint-Georges are not soft in their youth, but that is the true character of the terroir: robust tannins, dark fruit, and a mineral infusion from the iron-inflected soils that, taken together, can only come from this singular district. The estate’s holdings are farmed with the underlying objective of achieving certification as an organic grower in the coming years. Harvest is manual. Vinification is classic with 100% destemming and a brief period of cold maceration followed by two to three weeks of cuvaison, the length of which is determined by the appellation and the inherent structure of each wine. A decanting follows and then the wine is moved into small barrels where the malolactic occurs. An elevage of about 18 months occurs and the wines are bottled without fining or filtration.
Farming
Lutte Raisonnée since 1994
Treatments
Synthetic treatments only when necessary, no herbicides since 2003
Ploughing
Annual ploughing to promote soil health
Soils
Limestone-clay
Vines
Average age 40 years, with many of the oldest vines over 70 years old. All are trained in Guyot and planted at c. 11,000 vines/ha
Yields
Controlled through severe winter pruning and debudding; yields average 35-40 hl/ha
Harvest
Entirely manual, usually in mid-late September
PURCHASING
Entirely estate fruit
Fermentation
Wines ferment spontaneously in stainless-steel tanks following total destemming and a 4-5 day cold soak. Cuvaison lasts 3-4 weeks
Extraction
Mostly pumpovers, with some punchdowns depending on the nature of the vintage
Chaptalization
Chaptalization when necessary
Pressing
Pneumatic pressing
Malolactic Fermentation
Spontaneous, in barrel in the spring
Élevage
15-18 months in 228-l oak barrels. Regional wines see no new oak; village wines see 15-25%; and 1er cru wines see 20-33%
LEeS
All wines rest on their fine lees until assemblage prior to bottling
FINING & FILTRATION
All wines are unfined and unfiltered
SULFUR
Applied at harvest, racking after malolactic, and bottling; c. 15-20 mg/l free sulfur