Pierre, Denis & Jean-Jacques: Doisy-Daëne & L’Extravagance 1942-2013
BY NEAL MARTIN |
Following my recent reassessment of the 2001 vintage in Sauternes, it’s time to examine Doisy-Daëne, one of the region’s outstanding estates. I have always admired Doisy-Daëne’s crystalline purity that effortlessly scythes through that gorgeous honeyed fruit. Last June, I ventured down to the château to undertake an extensive vertical tasting of Doisy-Daëne with co-proprietor, Jean-Jacques Dubourdieu. My tasting notes extend back to the Ninety-Forties. But, the narrative of this article focuses not so much on the wines, but rather on four generations of the Dubourdieu family that have run the estate for almost a century.
The history of Doisy-Daëne predating the Dubourdieu’s tenure is rather muddied by time. “Doisy” is first mentioned by André Jullien in Topographie de tous les vignobles connus published in 1832. The Doisy vineyard was originally owned by the Védrines family and split either in the 1830s or 1840s, one part acquired by the Bordeaux négociant, Jean-Jacques-Emmanuel Daëne, who appended his name. The estate passed to his three sons in 1875, one part sold to the Dubroca brothers and another to Jean-Paul Billot. His only daughter, Pauline, married Jean Lodoïs Juhel-Renoy, a Parisian négociant. The couple inherited the estate in 1884, before selling their holding to the Debans family in 1889. It is from the Debans that Doisy-Daëne passed to the Dubourdieus. At this point of the timeline, I present a translation of the reading that Jean-Jacques Dubourdieu gave at the funeral of his grandfather, Pierre Dubourdieu, this summer. He said that it would give me everything that I needed to know about him…
On the left, Georges Dubourdieu, who bought the estate in 1924. On the right, his son Pierre aged 25. My sincere thanks to the family for sharing these photos.
Pierre Dubourdieu
Jean-Jacques Dubourdieu: “It was the maternal grandfather of Pierre Dubourdieu, Fernand Lacoste, who acquired Doisy-Daëne in 1924, although the family can trace their winemaking roots in Cérons back to 1794. Pierre was born in the nearby village of Illats and grew up with his brothers Jean and André. Never a model pupil, Pierre Dubourdieu was happier out in the vineyards where he worked in evenings and weekends. His mother, Margueritte would invite the children of the village for snacks whilst his father, Georges Dubourdieu, worked in the winery and acted as Justice of the Peace in Barsac.”
Jean-Jacques Dubourdieu mentioned that Margueritte disliked the fact that her husband worked in a winery surrounded by women. So, she encouraged him to join the army. He was taken prisoner in World War One. During this time, he was put to work in the vineyards in Würtemberg. Working among the Riesling vines, the ethos of capturing the purity of fruit that has run through subsequent generations of the Dubourdieu family was born. A priori, Denis Dubourdieu eschewed high levels of residual sugar, which is why he was displeased about the 2011 Doisy-Daëne that came loaded with 168g/l. Read Denis Dubourdieu’s thoughts on “purity” the matter further down. Georges Dubourdieu worked at Doisy-Daëne until 1949.
“Pierre spent summers with his grandfather Fernand in Mimizan, fishing for cockles that they would eat together on the Landes beaches. Too young to see military action during the Second World War, after Liberation, Pierre enlisted in the army and served in Bad Kreuznach, Germany, as well as Italy and then southeast of France. Returning to Barsac in 1947, he took over the running of the estate. He was constantly thinking of ideas to improve winemaking and helped develop equipment such as the automatic press, the Picquet sink and cold stabilization. Pierre always welcomed innovation. He adapted from horse to tractor to drones, though he always had a preference for the horse. In 1948, he vinified Sauternes’ first dry white, quite revolutionary for the time, though in hindsight it was a prescient decision.
