Joseph Drouhin “Monty and Moose”
BY NEAL MARTIN |
“Monty and Moose” sounds like a kids’ program on Cartoon Network instead of the two most revered Grand Crus in the Côte d’Or. Oenophiles have a habit of nicknaming vineyards because, aside from being easier to pronounce, nicknames make them seem more personable, like a mate you meet down the pub, instead of royalty. Had you eavesdropped on a telephone conversation in my buying days, you would probably have heard phrases like “Got any Moose?” or “Can you knock off a few quid on that Monty?”
In this piece I combine two verticals of Domaine Joseph Drouhin’s Montrachet and Musigny, to give them their proper titles. They were in fact conducted months apart, the Montrachet on the eve of my surgery and the Musigny a few months earlier, the latter tasting organized by collector Jordi Orriols-Gil. Why did they take so long to publish? Well, a wine writer should always keep something in their back pocket for a rainy day. Co-proprietor Véronique Drouhin-Boss attended both events and kindly colored in supplementary historical detail before rushing off to oversee the harvest in Oregon. I have augmented these tasting notes with mature vintages of the domaine’s Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses, since it makes an interesting juxtaposition with Musigny. It is not a given that this Grand Cru is always superior to what many would call a Grand Cru in all but name.
I will not repeat the history of Domaine Drouhin, as that is recounted in detail in much of Burgundy’s wine literature.
Looking at Montrachet from the northeast corner of the vineyard. This was actually taken in early October 2020 on a morning jog through Puligny!
Joseph Drouhin’s Montrachet comes from land that has belonged to the Laguiche family since 1776. In 1947, Jean de Laguiche made an agreement with the Drouhin family to use their expertise in overseeing harvest, vinification and marketing. The significant 2.06 hectares of vine constitutes the largest holding in Montrachet, located on its northerly border in the Puligny half of the vineyard. Naturally, the vines, planted in 1961, 1970 and 1984, are picked by hand and transferred to the Drouhins’ capacious winery on the outskirts of Beaune. A pneumatic press gently squeezes the berries for a long duration; then, after débourbage to get rid of sediment, the wine is raised in barrel using around 25% new oak.
The origin of Drouhin’s Musigny is also one based on personal relationships, albeit different from the one behind Montrachet. Maurice Drouhin, the grandfather of Véronique Drouhin, purchased grapes from Frédéric Mugnier’s great-uncle, Marcel Mugnier. When Marcel passed away in 1944, he bequeathed the vines in Musigny to his petite amie (girlfriend) Madame Adrien, a Dijon-based opera singer. The remaining 1.15 hectares belongs to incumbent proprietor Frédéric Mugnier. Of course, an opera singer might have a penchant for wine but is no vigneron, so Madame Adrien continued to sell fruit to the Drouhin family. After Maurice Drouhin suffered a stroke in 1957, his nephew Robert took over operations. Having completed his military service, Robert had planned to spend a few years learning about wine, but his uncle’s untimely passing threw him in at the deep end at the age of 24. What he lacked in knowledge was soon made up with hands-on experience and business acumen. Among other holdings, such as Les Amoureuses and Bonnes-Mares, Robert acquired the parcel of Musigny in 1961 under the terms of a viager, guaranteeing Madame Adrien an income after the sale until her death.
“My grandfather did not keep a lot of wine in the cellar, so bottles preceding 1961 are very rare,” Véronique Drouhin noted ruefully, and unsurprisingly, she was as excited as any attendee about to taste the wines. “Our Musigny is in the lieu-dit of Les Grands Musigny; to the north are the vines belonging to Leroy and to the south, J-F Mugnier. There are in fact three parcels of different-aged vines, though one was pulled out in 2016, which was a very small crop. In total there is 0.68 hectares of vine that makes six to eight barrels, though there were nine in 2009. It has been farmed biodynamically since 1990 and the vines are a massal selection propagated at our own nursery.”
