Description
Remoissenet Père et Fils, Volnay
To say that Remoissenet is a historic négociant would be a gross understatement. My first visit in 2007 with my father was an experience I’ll never forget, and has subsequently led to many return visits. Located in the center of Beaune, Pierre takes you through an iron gate and into a building that instantly transports you back to the medieval ages. That’s just the beginning: You then descend a flight of stairs and the temperature begins plummeting with each step until entering a vast cave below. This is Remoissenet’s cellar, originally built in the 1300s, which connects to the medieval walls of Beaune itself. But the other distinguishing feature (if not already obvious by now) of Remoissenet is its immense, museum-like collection of back-vintage bottlings. We’ve seen them firsthand while strolling through the catacombs with Répolt and Rovani—stacks of dusty “shiner” bottles, a miniature chalkboard hanging from one of the necks with the vintage and vineyard inscribed. And that, my friends, is where today’s ancient offer currently resides. For a wine geek, it’s more exciting than an amusement park ride, especially when you get to pull the cork on and literally taste history.
Here’s how the offer works: For every bottle sold, Pierre and cellarmaster Bernard Répolt will (1) personally remove every ‘shiner’ from their subterranean wine museum, (2) clean, recork, label, and quality check each one, and (3) top off the winners with more of the same wine. They conduct all of these slow, painstaking measures because Remoissenet is a “merchant of pleasure,” meaning the end goal is to deliver a breathtakingly historic, perfectly enjoyable mature red Burgundy.
