Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - 61

Joseph Drouhin

Véronique Drouhin
& Jérôme Faure-Brac

F RANCE B URGUNDY

TOP 100 WINERIES 2016

F RANCE B URGUNDY

Domaine Laroche
Founded: 1880
Winemakers: Jérôme Faure-Brac
and Véronique Drouhin
Viticulturist: Philippe Drouhin
Owner: Maison Joseph Drouhin
Acres owned: 192
Annual production:
400,000 cases
Estate grown: N/A
Importer: Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., NY
Website: drouhin.com

In the challenging 2013 vintage, a year that required restricted yields to
achieve ripe fruit, the Drouhin family's sensitive farming produced a range of
exceptional wines. We recommended six of the seven 2013s we tasted with
scores of 90 or better, earning Drouhin its eighth Top 100 award.
A Grand Domaine: Maurice Drouhin joined his father's négociant
firm and set out to buy vineyard land. He invested in the Clos des
Mouches in 1918, with a purchase of 5.89 acres, a holding the family has since increased to 31.9 acres, more than half of this Beaune
premier cru. Today, the Drouhin family still owns a majority interest in the firm, farming 192 acres in Burgundy, including 95 acres at
Drouhin Vaudon, their domaine in Chablis, and having expanded to
Oregon's Willamette Valley with Domaine Drouhin. They produce
nuanced wines, quietly sustaining relationships with aristocratic families, farming, for example, the Laguiche family's historic domaine.
Care in Farming: When Philippe Drouhin joined the company in 1988,
he began to question the use of chemicals in the vineyards. As director of viticulture, he soon moved the estate to organic farming, and
began experimenting with biodynamic practices. In 2009, he gained
organic certification for the domaine. Philippe pays particular attention to the family's vineyards in Chambolle,
consistently growing a great village wine, as well as an
exceptional blend of premier cru parcels. In 2013, the
straight Chambolle-Musigny, from a 0.62-acre plot he
has farmed organically since 1990, produced a gracious,
silken Chambolle, with the sexiness you might expect
from a wine with a higher classification. The 2013
Vosne-Romanée is almost as impressive, with its fresh,
meadow-like scents and energetic buzz.
Nuanced Whites: Drouhin's whites in 2013 had many
high points as well: The Puligny-Montrachet Premier
Cru Folatières was one of our 100 Best Wines of the
Year. It shares that same buzz of energy, here lifting
scents of cherimoya and savory notes of chalky limestone. It's the kind of nuanced wine that's rare among
négociant Burgundies, placing Drouhin firmly in the
camp of an accomplished grower. -J.G.

TOP-SCORING WINES

Grégory Viennois

Founded: 1850
Winemaker/viticulturist:
Grégory Viennois
Owner: AdVini
Acres owned: 247
Annual production: 40,000 cases
Estate grown: 100%
Importer: Wilson Daniels,
St. Helena, CA
Website: larochewines.com

While Laroche has extended its holdings to the south of France, South Africa
and Chile, it earned this Top 100 award based on its exceptional portfolio of
vineyards in Chablis.
The Domaine: For more than 150 years, the Laroche family farmed 15
acres in the village of Maligny in Chablis. That changed when fifthgeneration Michel Laroche joined the domaine in 1967. At the time,
land was cheap, and he was able to acquire some choice parcels.
Today, the domaine totals 247 acres, including 15 acres of grand cru
vineyards and 73 acres in premiers crus. He also purchased the ninthcentury monastery L'Obédiencerie, which serves as the cellar for
Laroche's grand and premier cru wines.
One Person per Plot: Today, under the direction of Grégory Viennois,
Domaine Laroche employs more than 30 full-time vineyard workers,
each responsible for an individual plot. Duties include everything
from pruning and soil conditioning to sorting during harvest. One
plot that regularly stands out is Les Clos, from Laroche's 2.75-acre
parcel of this grand cru, planted in 1960. In 2013, its southern exposure and well-drained soil helped the old vines ripen their fruit into
savory chamomile intensity.
Grands Crus: The Obédiencerie is centered in Les Blanchots, where Laroche owns 11.25 acres of vines-a third
of this grand cru vineyard. Laroche splits the parcels
into 70 lots based on vine age, clone, soil and exposition
and vinifies each separately, aging them in oak vessels
of various sizes depending on the characteristics of the
fruit. Viennois then blends two wines from these lots:
the Réserve de l'Obédience and the Grand Cru Les
Blanchots. He ages half of Les Blanchots in oak, 15
percent of it new, and the 2013 shows that oak influence in green tea-like tannins, even as it sustains a
fragrant openness in scents of apple, wheat and the
limestone focus of great Chablis. L'Obédience sees
less oak, but a slightly higher proportion of new
oak, lending a tannic edge to counterpoint its sweet
scents of honeysuckle and lime. -C.G.

TOP-SCORING WINES

95 '13 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Folatières $116 (4/16)

94 '13 Chablis Grand Cru Les Blanchots $104 (4/16)

93 '13 Chambolle-Musigny $83 (10/16)

93 '13 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos $146 (4/16)

93 '13 Chassagne 1er Cru Marq. de Laguiche Morgeot $132 (4/16)

91 '13 Chablis 1er Cru Les Vaudevey $46 (4/16)
WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2017

http://www.larochewines.com http://www.drouhin.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016