Is Drouhin no longer a ngociant?

O

Oswaldo Costa

Oswaldo Costa
Sat next to a guy last night who said he loved the burgundies of Joseph Drouhin. I said "yeah, they're a good ngociant." The guy replied, indignantly, "No they're not! They used to be, but they aren't any more." Anybody know the scoop?
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Is Drouhin no longer a ngociant?Sat next to a guy last night who said he loved the burgundies of Joseph Drouhin. I said "yeah, they're a good ngociant." The guy replied, indignantly, "No they're not! They used to be, but they aren't any more." Anybody know the scoop?
Click to expand...
Would this past the smell test? Anyone with that large a volume (especially in Burgundy) would need to be partly negociant.
 
The website only admits to buying grapes for parts of village and generic wines, implying that all premier and grand crus are theirs. If that's true, or has become true, then perhaps the guy has a point.
 
Oswaldo I think by definition they are still correctly called a negociant in the sense that they make wines with grapes owned by others as well has having their own [separate] fully-owned vineyard holdings.They use the separate designations of Domaine and Maison Drouhin which suggests like e.g. William Fevre they distinguish between negoce and domaine wines and price accordingly.

And IIRC, unless things have changed recently, they make a Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet Morgeot wines from the grapes of the holdings of the Marquis de Laguiche so not all of the GC and 1er cru wines they make are from their own vineyards. However since they also look after the vines of that substantial estate as well as making the wines I may be splitting hairs.

However they have steadily increased their own vineyard holdings over many years which have been converted to biodynamics in recent years so the considerable majority of their GC and 1er wines may well be made from their own grapes as opposed to those bought in from others. Perhaps the guy you sat next to meant that the wines he bought were Domaine wines rather than negoce which may have been what he thought you were implying when you described them as a good Negociant.
 
and I suspect their purchasing patterns vary a bit by vintage with respect to vineyard designated wines so perhaps it's not economical to list those on the website.
 
One factor that might have played into that misperception is that Drouhin recently "rebranded" their Chablis offerings as Drouhin-Vaudon with different labels from their other offerings. It certainly threw me for a loop when I first saw them.

Mark Lipton
 
even most of the small ones have to be ngoce too - they rent some vines, do all the work but have to 'buy' the last third (or whatever) of the grapes from the person who owns the land - they do everything, but need a ngoce license to buy that third...
 
originally posted by maureen:
and I suspect their purchasing patterns vary a bit by vintage with respect to vineyard designated wines so perhaps it's not economical to list those on the website.
Click to expand...

And what's so insulting about being a good negociant anyway?
 
Hmm, it does look like something may have changed. Their website now says

"For some village or regional appellations, Joseph Drouhin complements its supplies by purchasing grapes from other vineyard owners who have been long time partners and share the same quest of excellence. "

That seems to imply that they may no longer be purchasing fruit for their 1er and grand crus?
 
originally posted by Jay Miller:
Hmm, it does look like something may have changed. Their website now says

"For some village or regional appellations, Joseph Drouhin complements its supplies by purchasing grapes from other vineyard owners who have been long time partners and share the same quest of excellence. "

That seems to imply that they may no longer be purchasing fruit for their 1er and grand crus?
Click to expand...

Exactly, Jay, that's what I was referring to with the comment posted at 6:38am.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
originally posted by Jay Miller:
Hmm, it does look like something may have changed. Their website now says

"For some village or regional appellations, Joseph Drouhin complements its supplies by purchasing grapes from other vineyard owners who have been long time partners and share the same quest of excellence. "

That seems to imply that they may no longer be purchasing fruit for their 1er and grand crus?
Click to expand...

Exactly, Jay, that's what I was referring to with the comment posted at 6:38am.
Click to expand...

Ah, so you did. If true it's a major shift. Not sure why they would make it as some of their negociant wines were wonderful.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top