Description
Remoissenet Père et Fils, Volnay 1er Cru, “Clos des Chênes”
We’ve regaled you many times over with tales of our visits to Remoissenet Père et Fils, the historic Burgundy négociant house in Beaune—and, more specifically, to its snaking network of caves filled with the kinds of rare treasures that make collectors swoon. Touring these cellars with charismatic cellar master Bernard Répolt is more than a little Wonka-esque, with stunning surprises around every corner.
“Oh, look, there’s a perfectly preserved cache of Grand Cru wine from my birth year” is a refrain you might hear. And there isn’t a top cru in all of Burgundy that isn’t represented down here. Our latest direct-from-the-cellar acquisition from Remoissenet is today’s Volnay from the acclaimed “Clos des Chênes” Premier Cru—a vineyard typically listed among the best of Burgundy. Then there’s the 1978 vintage, most definitely “the” vintage of the decade for ageworthy reds. This is a big-deal, big-event wine that needs only a short period of rest in your cellar before you find an appropriately grand event for its unveiling. After we tasted this in Beaune a few months back we ordered all we could (not much), and the wine has just arrived. We can only parcel out a single bottle each to our most devoted Burgundy buyers, but it’s a single—and singular—bottle well-worth snatching up. It delivers on every level, I can assure you!
This is the latest in a string of hand-picked rarities we’ve offered from Remoissenet, which has been enjoying a modern renaissance since its acquisition by a new ownership group in 2005. Along with Répolt, the team includes longtime journalist-turned-GM Pierre Rovani and winemaker Claudie Jobard, who’ve re-established the property as a quality leader primarily through investments in vineyards and farming (Remoissenet-owned vineyards are farmed biodynamically, and all contact growers are now more closely managed with an eye toward sustainability). They are, like many of their modern contemporaries, re-defining what it means to be a ‘négociant’ in Burgundy: Most people think of them as ‘merchant-bottlers’ purchasing either grapes or wine from other growers and putting them out under their own label. But the best négociants of the modern era are much more hands-on than that, managing the process carefully at every step by focusing heavily on sustainable farming and wines from estate-owned vineyards.
But the other distinguishing feature of Remoissenet is its museum-quality collection of back-vintage bottlings, which is stunning in its breadth and geographic reach. Especially in the Côte de Beaune, there isn’t a great vineyard this house hasn’t worked with, and of course “Clos des Chênes” is one of the great vineyards of not just Volnay but of the entire region. Situated at the southwest end of Volnay near the border with Monthélie, Clos des Chênes is often mentioned alongside the “Taillepieds” Premier Cru as producing perhaps the most seductive and elegant wines in the appellation. And in a vintage like 1978, consider by most lovers of mature red Burgundy as an “it” vintage, Clos des Chênes blew us away.
Indeed, whether you’re a relative novice or a seasoned Burghound, what this perfectly sound 1978 offers is a master class in the longevity of great red Burgundy. Hand-picked by Répolt from a cache of bottles that have never moved from Remoissenet’s cellars, our parcel was cleaned up, labeled, and sent directly to our temperature-controlled warehouse in Sonoma, California. The benefits of this impeccable storage are evident in the wine’s still-healthy color, which has evolved into a medium garnet-red moving to brick orange at the rim. It’s health and physical soundness is confirmed on the seductive nose and palate, where highly perfumed fruit aromas of dried black cherry, raspberry blossoms, and preserved wild strawberry meld with deeply savory notes of dried mushroom, beef bouillon, and damp underbrush. The aromas are exactly what one expects from a perfectly stored bottle from a top vineyard in a great vintage. The wine is rich and dense, the finish is long and soulful, and there is no drop-off whatsoever after extended time in the glass. It only seemed to gain strength over the few hours we drank it, which of course is the mark of a great mature wine.
Although I believe it still has enough structure for further aging, your move with this wine should be to find a special occasion sometime over the next year or two to pull the cork. Stand the bottle upright in a cool place the day before opening and pull the cork about 15 minutes before service at 60 degrees in Burgundy stems. Do not decant, unless you quickly double decant (instructions in link) the wine back into the bottle to remove sediment; you do not want to lose the delicate aromas. If you pour slowly and gently, you should manage to avoid any intrusion of sediment until the very last ounce, so be careful not to pour it in your glass (unless you plan to floss afterwards). It will unfold and evolve over the course of a meal, which, if you’re feeling fancy, might well be your Thanksgiving dinner—or something resembling it, as in the attached recipe. It will make for the most special of special occasions. Cheers!
