Close to the Pomerol church, the Labruyère family purchased this property in 1994. They immediately set to work, restructuring the vineyard, renovating the winery and allowing the property to emerge from the shadows. 

Ch. Rouget

Discover the wines of Ch. Rouget, Pomerol estate where quality has risen significantly under the ownership of the Labruyere family

Explore Ch. Rouget wines, Pomerol 

Ch. Rouget 

The Reynaud wines are the stuff of legend. Utter “Rayas” to a certain crowd and they will swoon. The singular style of this iconic Châteauneuf-du-Pape estate – pale, hauntingly aromatic, almost Burgundian in texture and incredibly long-lived – has a fervent following, a clan of Reynaud obsessives keen to seek out everything that Emmanuel Reynaud touched.  The property’s rustic charm – a far cry from the grandiose buildings of many famous estates – combined with the family’s inclination to shy away from their fame, happier quietly farming their vines, has only fanned the flames. Tucked away in the northern reaches of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Ch. Rayas and its owners are elusive – only making them more sought-after.   There is no shortage of praise for these rare and special wines – whose appeal, given the Reynaud’s minimal-intervention approach, broaches the worlds of fine and natural wine. William Kelley is a loyalist, and is one of several to note how well the property performs in “off-vintages” – where the property’s distinctive profile shines through, above and beyond the vintage and region, revealing their “captivating perfume, sensual textures and eternal youthfulness”. Robert Parker described the 1990 Rayas as “one of the greatest young red wines I have ever tasted”. For Nicolas Grainacher (Vinous), “The substance, finesse and intensity packed into these wines make it hard not to fall in love with them.” Neal Martin (Vinous) perhaps put it most concisely: “God invented wine to drink wines like this.”    The history of the Reynaud empire  In 1880, Albert Reynaud, a notary from Avignon, lost his hearing aged just 45. No longer able to work as a lawyer, he bought an estate in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, in an area called Rayas, where he saw out his days farming vines, apricots and olives. In 1910, his son Louis Reynaud took over running the estate. Louis had studied agriculture in Angers and was particularly interested in viticulture. He uprooted trees to plant new vineyards and bottled the property’s first wine in 1920 – using the name “Rayas”, the name of the forest on their parcel of land. It was the beginning of Rayas as we know it today.  Louis famously added the wording “Premier Grand Cru” to the Rayas labels, a self-pronounced classification of the wine – and notoriously defying the appellation rules (introduced in 1936). Building the property’s reputation and sales, he started expanding the business. Between 1935 and 1938 he bought Ch. des Tours in Vacqueyras, entrusting his son Bertrand with the larger 58-hectare property northeast of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, not far from the town of Orange. Around the same time, he built a new cellar and winery at Rayas, bringing the buildings within the appellation’s boundaries. After the Second World War in 1945, Louis purchased Ch. de Fonsalette, an estate further north of Orange, in Lagarde-Paréol – and, with that, the full suite of Reynaud properties was in place.  By the time Louis passed away in 1978, the Reynaud wines were some of the Rhône’s most famous.  
After his death, his youngest son Jacques took over Rayas and Fonsalette, while Bertrand continued to run Ch. des Tours. With the shift in ownership at Rayas and Fonsalette, quality dipped a little – but soon Jacques was making wines that lived up to the Reynaud name.  The old vines at Rayas, planted on sandy soils, facing north/northeast, surrounded by pine forest, produce wines of exceptional elegance and aromatic finesse, wines with haunting perfume, pale colour and almost Pinot-like delicacy, yet phenomenal persistence and ageability.   Jacques was renowned for being eccentric. A recluse, happiest in the vines and never keen to welcome visitors, he was rumoured to, on occasion, lie in a ditch to avoid journalists or other members of the trade. His aversion to the limelight surely only added to the wines’ allure. He died rather suddenly in 1997, while shoe shopping in Courthézon. Having no children of his own, his nephew Emmanuel – Bertrand’s son, who had been running Ch. des Tours since 1989 – inherited both Rayas and Fonsalette, taking the reins across all three properties.  The transition between Jacques and Emmanuel wasn’t seamless, as Emmanuel renovated the estate and replanted parts of the site, but by the early 2000s quality was once more living up to the Reynaud name. The style has shifted between generations, and while Jacques’s wines were more structured and solid, Emmanuel favoured more sensual, perfumed expressions. Over the last two decades, little has changed across the Reynaud properties – the wines’ mythical status only confirmed with each release. The new generation – Emmanuel’s sons Louis Damien and Benoît – are now continuing the family’s legacy.    The Reynaud philosophy  The approach at Reynaud is old-school – here, tradition reigns. Modern monoculture is not the method – with various crops across the estates, and biodiversity nurtured with swathes of woodland. The vines – all bush vined, many with significant age – are farmed in exactly the way as they’ve always been, organically with minimal inputs, ploughed by horse.  The fruit is all hand-harvested, whole-bunch fermented with indigenous yeast in cement tanks. Since Emmanuel took over, parcels have all been vinified separately. Macerations are gentle, generally under two weeks with a single pump-over a day. Ageing is in large, old oak, with no new wood used anywhere across the properties – indeed the youngest demi-muid or foudre at the estate may well be 30 years in age. Sulphur additions are minimal, with only a small amount at fermentation and a final addition at bottling, with the wines bottled unfined and unfiltered. The method is simplicity at its finest, focused on expressing each site – and the results speak for themselves. The wineries are rustic farm buildings, offering only the basic requirements, with no modern technology employed – and, given the wines produced, not needed.  Grenache is the core of all the Reynaud wines – the grape that thrives in their terroir and is the magic behind Rayas. Beyond Rayas, Cinsault is used to bring elegance and suppleness, while Syrah was long avoided – used only at Ch. de Fonsalette. Louis Reynaud believed the variety belonged in the Northern Rhône, and other than the small portion that made it into the Côtes du Rhône, the rest of the Syrah was sold off in bulk under his reign (often to local restaurants, who used it in their sauces). The Côtes du Rhône Syrah cuvée only introduced under Jacques Reynaud’s tenure, at first sold to the restaurants who had seen its quality in their sauces. There is no Mourvèdre at any of the estates, as Emmanuel Reynaud believed that their soils are too dry for the grape.  The Reynaud wines and estates  The Reynaud family comprises three distinct estates – Rayas, Fonsalette and Ch. des Tours, although Fonsalette doesn’t have its own winery.   Ch. Rayas  Rayas is the original Reynaud estate, purchased in 1880, and takes its name from the climat. In the northern reaches of Châteauneuf-du-Pape lie the 12 hectares of vines, surrounded by 11 hectares of forest. Forget the region’s stereotypical galets roulés or pudding stones, known for their ability to hold heat, Rayas sits on red, iron-rich, sandy soils, over richer clay. The soils are poor and the bush vines planted at low density, with a mere 2,500 vines per hectare – yielding just 10 to 20hl/ha. Significant replanting took place in the 1980s, meaning the vines now average 40 years in age, although there are still some survivors from the 1940s.  The site’s northern exposition combines with the influence of the wooded areas, offering shade and humidity, making for an extended growing season and preserving freshness in the wines. The Reynauds are among the last to harvest, often only picking in October/November, as much as two months after their neighbours. The resulting wines, however, do not speak of intense ripeness – but are all about elegance and finesse.  While Châteauneuf permits 13 red varieties, at Rayas you’ll find only Grenache Noir, with two hectares dedicated to white grapes – Grenache Blanc and Clairette. The Grenache vineyards can be divided into three section: Le Levant, Le Coeur and Le Couchant, each taking its name from its exposure to the sun – respectively as it rises, at its peak and as it sets. Writing for The World of Fine Wine, William Kelley describes the three components of the vineyard thus: “Le Levant is the most floral and ethereal, contributing the wine’s spine; Le Coeur is the most complete, contributing Rayas’s skeleton; and Le Couchant, with its richer, more compote-like fruit tones, brings the fat.”  The fruit is all hand-picked. The Grenache is kept on its stems, the whole bunches crushed before a gentle maceration for maximum two weeks (one pumpover a day) and indigenous-yeast fermentation. The wine is pressed off and aged in old foudre for a little under two years.  The delicacy and finesse of the resulting wine is reminiscent of top Burgundy. Pale in colour, Rayas is deeply aromatic, with haunting floral notes and an ethereal, silken texture that balances the wine’s earthy, savoury intensity. Between 1,200 and 1,500 cases of the flagship Châteauneuf-du-Pape are produced each year. The wines age beautifully and Emmanuel himself recommended waiting 20-25 years before opening a bottle of Rayas to fully experience its evolution.  The white grapes are planted across three parcels in Le Levant, comprising two hectares. The Grenache Blanc was planted in the 1940s, ’50s and ’95, with the Clairette planted in 1986. Fermented in old (80 to 100 years old) foudre, purchased second-hand by Louis Reynaud (Emmanuel’s grandfather), Rayas Blanc is a 50:50 blend of Grenache Blanc and Clairette, aged in old oak for around 11 months. The wine is made in extremely limited volumes, with only 400 or so cases produced each vintage. Rich yet poised, this rare white is immensely fragrant with notes of almond and white flowers, intensely mineral and textured, and can age for at least a decade.  Pignan is sometimes considered a “second wine” at Rayas, but it in fact comes from it own, specific site on the estate, a single two-hectare block surrounded by pine trees on the northern edge of the property with less sandy soils. Also pure Grenache, made in exactly the same way at Rayas, it offers a more immediate and approachable expression of the Rayas style, yet similar perfume, purity and structure – and is still capable of extended ageing. It can, on occasion – and especially in cooler vintages, rival its older sibling, Rayas. Around 650 cases are produced each year.  The Rayas wines are all only released when entering their drinking window, with the reds often only emerging from the estate over a decade after the harvest.  Ch. de Fonsalette  The “latest” addition to the Reynaud galaxy, Ch. de Fonsalette was purchased by Louis Reynaud in 1945. The property is large, covering 120 hectares in total, but with 12 hectares of vines in amongst woodland, farmland and olive groves, north of Orange in Lagarde-Paréol. Today it sits largely within the Côtes du Rhône Villages Massif d’Uchaux appellation (established in 2005), however the wines are all labelled just as Côtes du Rhône. Further north, the microclimate is cooler than at Rayas, and stylistically the wines are more restrained than those of Ch. des Tours, for example, but not as ethereal as those of Rayas.  The soils here are very different to those at Rayas with gravel, sand and red pudding stones. The vineyards are planted to Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah for red grapes, and Grenache Blanc, Clairette and Marsanne for whites. The vines are generally old, with the oldest planted in 1929.  The philosophy in the vineyard and winery is exactly the same as at Rayas – and, as the property doesn’t have a winery of its own, the wines are even made at Rayas. The reds are whole-bunch fermented, with a maximum two-week maceration and one pump-over a day. The wines are aged in a combination of enamel-lined tanks and large, old oak, bottled around a year or so later.   There are three wines in the range at Ch. de Fonsalette. The Côtes du Rhône Rouge is a blend of 50% Grenache, 35% Cinsault and 15% Syrah, the notably high percentage of Cinsault giving the wine particular lift and aromatic finesse – a wine that whispers and draws you in. There is a second red, a Côtes du Rhône Syrah which is 100% Syrah – a structured, dark-fruited wine that offers restrained power and quiet depth. Under Louis Reynaud, this was sold off in bulk, only first bottled under Jacques Reynaud (from 1978) and sold locally, largely to restaurants, before being offered more widely under Emmanuel. The Côtes du Rhône Blanc is a blend of 80% Grenache Blanc, 10% Clairette and 10% Marsanne, producing a textural and complex white with notes of stone fruit and herbs, and a saline undertow.  La Pialade  This wine is a slight anomaly in the Reynaud line-up. Only made in certain vintages, La Pialade Côtes du Rhône is vinified and aged at Rayas, made with declassified parcels from either Rayas or Ch. de Fonsalette. The blend is typically 85% Grenache, 15% Cinsault and 5% Syrah. Produced in tiny volumes, and even rarer given it isn’t made every year, it is often described as an “everyday Rayas” – more open in style, but can match Rayas for its subtlety and delicacy, even if it does not have the same depth.  Ch. des Tours   Purchased by Louis Reynaud in the late 1930s, Ch. des Tours was Emmanuel Reynaud’s home estate – having taken over running the property from his father Bertrand in 1989. As it was entrusted to Bertrand from the beginning, and never managed by Jacques Reynaud, the estate has always stood apart from Ch. Rayas and Ch. de Fonsalette – however all three have fallen under Emmanuel since 1997. Benoît – Emmanuel’s son, who studied oenology in Switzerland – has recently taken the lead at Ch. des Tours, having worked closely alongside his father.  The property gets its name from the towers or tours that frame the château building. Located in Vacqueyras, not far from Orange and northeast of Châteauneuf, it covers 40 hectares, with grains and olives as well as grapes. As it was long run separately, the property has its own winery.  Although the Reynaud philosophy runs through all three estates, the wines at Ch. des Tours are stylistically distinctive, offering more structure, muscle and intensity versus the more subtle, high-toned, perfumed style of Rayas and Fonsalette. The winemaking is largely similar to at Rayas and Fonsalette, with fermentation is concrete and maturation in old oak. Although the red grapes are mostly whole-bunch fermented, this is the only property where small portions are destemmed. The range is more complex at Ch. des Tours with a selection of wines bottled under Ch. des Tours, some under Domaine des Tours and a rosé made under the Parisy label.  There are five wines under the Ch. des Tours label:  Vacqueyras: A blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah, this is a structured and powerful wine made exclusively from the oldest vines on the estate.  Côtes du Rhône Rouge: A blend of 65% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 15% Cinsault, this is a supple, juicy red packed with fruit and spice.   Côtes du Rhône Rouge Grande Réserve: Only made in specific vintages, this is effectively the Vacqueyras declassified when there isn’t sufficient colour – made in 2002, 2014 and 2015.  Côtes du Rhône Blanc: Made in very limited volumes, this white is 100% Grenache Blanc – a floral, textural wine that is worth seeking out.  Côtes du Rhône Blanc Grande Réserve: Only made in certain vintages, this is not a declassified bottling (like its red sibling), but a special bottling of the property’s best Clairette and Grenache Blanc. The 50% Grenache Blanc, 50% Clairette wine was produced in 2003, 2014 and 2015.  The Domaine des Tours label is all sourced from Ch. des Tours however is a slightly separate project, generally offering more accessible wines, almost all labelled as IGP or Vin de Pays. There are four wines under the label:  Vin de Pays de Vaucluse Rouge: This is a deeply expressive field blend of Grenache, Counoise, Syrah, Cinsault, Merlot and a host of other varieties.  Vin de Pays de Vaucluse Merlot: This 100% Merlot comes from the richest, clay soils on the property, producing amore opulent and exuberant wine.  Vin de Pays de Vaucluse Merlot-Syrah: A blend of Merlot and Syrah, which shifts according to the vintage, is a concentrated wine that combines the generosity of Merlot with the spice of Syrah.  Vin de Pays de Vaucluse Clairette: This 100% Clairette is pure and fresh, driven by minerality.  Under its own label is Les Tours Grenache Blanc – a rich, ripe and generous 100% Grenache Blanc full of stone fruit, bottled under the Vaucluse appellation. The last wine from Ch. des Tours is the Parisy rosé, a dry, delicate Grenache/Cinsault Vin de Table designed for everyday drinking. The labels themselves don’t detail the vintage, with this information only visible on the cardboard case.  Which Reynaud wines are made where? Ch. Rayas, Pignan, Ch. de Fonsalette and Pialade are all made at Rayas Ch. des Tours, Domaine des Tours, Les Tours Grenache Blanc and Parisy are all made at Ch. des Tours  Explore all current listings of the Reynaud wines or read more Editorial 

Few wines have the cult status of Rayas – a wine that stands alone in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Here, we offer an essential guide to the wines crafted by the Reynaud family in the Rhône – Rayas, of course, but also those of Ch. de Fonsalette and Ch. des Tours 

Everything you need to know about the wines made by Emmanuel Reynaud – Rayas, Pignan, Chateau de Fonsalette, Chateau and Domaine des Tours, and Parisy  

Guide to Rayas, Fonsalette and Des Tours – the Reynaud wines

Everything you need to know about Rayas

Sitting plum in the middle of the Côte d’Or, the hill of Corton is hard to miss. Its wines, especially the whites, however, are all too often overlooked. We sat down with some of the region’s leading producers to explore the pedigree and potential of this site and its powerful, long-lasting wines

Discover the pedigree and potential of the hill of Corton’s whites – the fine Chardonnay from Corton-Charlemagne, Charlemagne and Corton Blanc 

Exploring Corton-Charlemagne, Charlemagne and Corton Blanc 

Corton-Charlemagne: the Grand Cru of the future?  

Burgundy is a mecca for lovers of fine Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but, with its litany of producers and vineyards, it can be a tricky region to get to grips with. Here we offer an essential guide to the region – breaking down everything from how vineyards are classified to producers to look out for

Discover everything you need to know about Burgundy: from vineyards and producers to the difference between négociant and domaine or what a Grand Cru is

Your essential guide to Burgundy wine

Your essential guide to Burgundy

When the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce ranked Bordeaux’s leading estates by price for the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1855, I doubt they anticipated we’d still be using it over 150 years later. Napoleon III had asked the team to put together an exhibition for the world fair, and the Chamber of Commerce neatly passed the buck to the region’s courtiers or brokers, asking them to create a list of the region’s best wines, broken into five tiers. They did so in just two weeks, basing the list almost exclusively on price.  The original classification ranked 58 properties, from First to Fifth Growth, or Premier to Cinquième Cru Classé (with Cru Classé literally translating as “classed/classified growth”). At the very top of this quality pyramid was Ch. Lafite, deemed the “premier des premiers” of the time. The properties were almost exclusively in the Médoc, with Ch. Haut-Brion in Pessac-Léognan the one exception.  It is often said that there has only been one change since the 1855 classification’s creation, however that’s not quite true. Ch. Cantemerle was added in 1856 (having been left out of the original ranking by accident). Ch. Pichon split in two, the Léoville estate into three and Batailley was also divided – but two properties also merged (Pouget and Pouget Lassale), while Dubignon was absorbed entirely by other addresses. Interestingly, Ch. Gloria consists exclusively of vineyards that were classified originally, although the château wasn’t classified in 1855.   The most significant change, and the one most often mentioned, was in 1973 when Ch. Mouton Rothschild was upgraded to First Growth status. The property had only just been acquired by the Rothschild family in the 1850s, so was intially ranked as a Second Growth but Baron Philippe de Rothschild made it is life mission to get it officially recognised as one of the Left Bank’s five leading addresses. For years the property’s labels had read “Premier ne puis, second ne daigne, Mouton suis” (“First I cannot be, second I do not deign to be, Mouton I am”), which was changed to “Premier je suis, second je fus, Mouton ne change” (“First I am, second I was, Mouton doesn’t change”) after the Baron’s bid was successful, and the estate’s premiership was legally recognised.  There are 61 estates in today’s classification, with five First Growths, 14 Second Growths, 14 Third Growths, 10 Fourth Growths and 18 Fifth Growths. Unlike in Saint-Emilion’s classification, a property is free to buy and sell vineyards, with their expansion or contraction not impacting their classed growth status.  Although the classification has never been reviewed, it remains largely (and surprisingly) accurate – the premium price associated with higher status and quality seemingly providing sufficient incentive for producers, and the market effectively deciding on a property’s status.  Today there is also an unofficial group known as the “super seconds” – estates that are thought to produce wines that are as good as those of the First Growths. This includes Pichon Baron, Pichon Comtesse, Lynch-Bages, Léoville Las Cases, Léoville Barton, Ducru-Beaucaillou, Cos d’Estournel, Montrose, Palmer, Pontet-Canet and La Mission Haut-Brion.  While we tend to consider only the red wines of the northern Gironde in reference to the 1855 classification, the sweet whites of Sauternes and Barsac were also ranked. The wines were only put into two classes, with 21 estates included. Nine estates were deemed worthy of First Growth status, 11 as Second Growths, with Ch. d’Yquem earning its own special category as “Premier Cru Supérieur”.  As with the red classification, the number of estates has grown as they have divided over the years (such as the Doisy estates), with one disappearing entirely (Pexoto – its vineyards are now part of Ch. Rabaud-Promis). There have otherwise been no changes.  The sweet wine classification is of little consequence today, however the estates collectively represent 45% of the surface area of Sauternes and Barsac, and produce 30% of the area’s wines today.  Beyond the 1855 classification, the Left Bank also has its Crus Bourgeois and Crus Artisan, as well as the 1959 Graves classification (read more about these here). The Right Bank still only has the Saint-Emilion classification – one that has caused enough controversy to put Pomerol off doing anything similar. None, however, have come close to having the influence of the 1855 classification – a remarkable ranking that has defined Bordeaux for generations, and was arguably instrumental in its success as a fine wine region.  Find a full break-down of the classifications below, read more about Bordeaux or browse all Bordeaux listings The 1855 classification Premiers Crus Classés or First Growths Ch. Lafite-Rothschild  Ch. Latour  Ch. Margaux  Ch. Mouton Rothschild (upgraded in 1973)  Ch. Haut-Brion Deuxièmes Crus Classés or Second Growths  Ch. Rauzan-Ségla  Ch. Rauzan-Gassies  Ch. Léoville Las Cases  Ch. Léoville-Poyferré  Ch. Léoville Barton  Ch. Durfort-Vivens  Ch. Gruaud Larose  Ch. Lascombes  Ch. Brane-Cantenac  Ch. Pichon Baron  Ch. Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande  Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou  Cos d’Estournel  Ch. Montrose Troisièmes Crus Classés or Third Growths Ch. Kirwan  Ch. d’Issan  Ch. Lagrange  Ch. Langoa Barton  Ch. Giscours  Ch. Malescot Saint-Exupéry  Ch. Boyd-Cantenac  Ch. Cantenac Brown  Ch. Palmer  Ch. la Lagune  Ch. Desmirail  Calon Ségur  Ch. Ferrière  Ch. Marquis d’Alesme  Quatrièmes Crus Classés or Fourth Growths Ch. Saint-Pierre  Ch. Talbot  Ch. Branaire-Ducru  Ch. Duhart-Milon  Ch. Pouget  Ch. la Tour Carnet  Ch. Lafon-Rochet  Ch. Beychevelle  Ch. Prieuré-Lichine  Ch. Marquis de Terme  Cinquièmes Crus Classés or Fifth Growths Ch. Pontet-Canet  Ch. Batailley  Ch. Haut-Batailley  Ch. Grand-Puy-Lacoste  Ch. Grand-Puy Ducasse  Ch. Lynch-Bages  Ch. Lynch-Moussas  Ch. Dauzac  Ch. d’Armailhac  Ch. du Tertre  Ch. Haut-Bages Libéral  Ch. Pédesclaux  Ch. Belgrave  Ch. de Camensac  Ch. Cos Labory  Ch. Clerc Milon  Ch. Croizet-Bages  Ch. Cantemerle The unofficial Super Seconds Cos d’Estournel  Ducru-Beaucaillou  La Mission Haut-Brion.  Léoville Barton  Léoville Las Cases  Lynch-Bages  Montrose  Palmer  Pichon Baron  Pichon Comtesse  Pontet-Canet  The 1855 Sauternes and Barsac classification Premier Cru Supérieur Ch. d’Yquem Premier Cru Ch. la Tour Blanche  Ch. Lafaurie-Peyraguey  Clos Haut-Peyraguey  Ch. de Rayne Vigneau  Ch. Suduiraut  Ch. Coutet  Ch. Climens  Ch. Guiraud  Ch. Rieussec  Ch. Rabaud-Promis  Ch. Sigalas Rabaud  Deuxièmes Crus Ch. de Myrat  Ch. Doisy Daëne  Ch. Doisy-Dubroca  Ch. Doisy-Védrines  Ch. d’Arche  Ch. Filhot  Ch. Broustet  Ch. Nairac  Ch. Caillou  Ch. Suau  Ch. de Malle  Ch. Romer du Hayot  Ch. Romer  Ch. Lamothe   Ch. Lamothe-Guignard 

The 1855 classification of Bordeaux’s top châteaux remains as important today as when it was first created in the 19th century. Here’s everything you need to know about the famous ranking

Everything you need to know about the 1855 classification in Bordeaux – the historic ranking of the Left Bank’s top wine estates

Your guide to Bordeaux’s 1855 classification

Your guide to the 1855 classification

“Time is necessary,” Paul-Etienne Defaix tells me. He should know – he is the 16th generation of his family to make wine in Chablis – and, at Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix, time is everything.  Wine has been made at the Domaine du Vieux Château (the property’s historic name, which still features on the labels today) for eight centuries, and under the Defaix family since 1610. Much has changed in Chablis over the past 400 years, however – and today the estate is a last bastion of the Chablis of yore.   Demand for Chablis was booming by the 1970s, and producers reduced the élevage (the time wine spends in barrel or tank), bottling, releasing and selling the wines earlier. These modern wines, often bottled within six to 12 months, were lean and crisp, but for Paul’s father Daniel-Etienne, they were disappointing – lacking the complexity and ageability of wines that spent longer on their lees (the dead yeast cells). Daniel-Etienne decided to do things differently – to return to making wine the way they had in generations past – and the family hasn’t looked back.  Generally, their approach is to let the wine be – waiting, watching and waiting some more. Fermentation is all with indigenous yeast and notably slow, taking up to six months, with malolactic fermentation left to rumble along on its own timescale, only finishing after up to two years. Their Premier Cru wines then spend up to nine years on their fine lees, while for the Grands Crus it can be up to 15 years, kept at a cool 10-12°C.  During the wines’ extended élevage, autolysis takes place – the enzymatic breakdown of the dead yeast cells, or lees. It’s the same process that takes place in Champagne and other traditional-method sparkling wines aged on their lees, and is the key to the Defaix – and once traditional – style of Chablis, giving the wine a rounder mouth-feel, and lending bready, toasty complexity. It is also, for Paul, “key to revealing terroir”. Although the tiny volumes of Defaix’s Grands Crus and Pinot Noir go into oak, most of the wines are aged exclusively in stainless steel, meaning it is only the site and time that you taste in the bottle. Once deemed ready, the wines are bottled and released into the world.  Ageing its wines in stainless steel tank for not months but years, Defaix creates textural, complex wines that are only released as they reach their drinking window. It is a rebellion, Paul tells me, against “a society of rapid consumption”.  Paul is now in charge of the property’s vineyards and winemaking, although his father is still involved in the business. Paul studied in Beaune, getting experience at a handful of estates – largely focused on Pinot Noir – before returning to the family domaine, working his way from the vines to the cellar. As Daniel-Etienne told him, “You need to learn your soil, your vines, then you can make the wine – and then you try to sell it.”  And, although it’s often the style of winemaking that steals headlines at Defaix, the domaine has some remarkable vineyards. The family farms 28 hectares in total. It has two Grand Cru parcels (0.15 hectares in Blanchot and 0.3 hectares in Grenouilles), but it’s the property’s Premiers Crus that have built its reputation – with four hectares each in Côte de Léchet and Vaillons. From these, they produce three wines: their Côte de Léchet, Les Lys and Vaillon. Importantly, the latter is Vaillon, not plural Les Vaillons – their parcel lying in the historic heart of this Premier Cru, prior to its expansion in 1976. Les Lys is a cooler climat within the larger Vaillons, and is often our favourite of the range, while the Côte de Léchet is drastically steep – with a 45% gradient.  The remaining hectares are largely dedicated to the estate’s village Chablis – their Vieilles Vignes. These vines are all over 45 years old, but some are very old – own-rooted, having survived phylloxera and now 145 years in age. When I ask Paul how this half-hectare has managed to survive ungrafted, he pauses, before saying: “I think God prays for these vines.”. They crop a mere 15hl/ha, but produce beautiful fruit (“For my bank, it’s bad; for my wine, it’s perfect!” Paul jokes) – and are now used for massal selection across the estate.  The final piece of the property is a tiny section of Vaillons planted to Pinot Noir, which is bottled as Bourgogne Rouge (as the land is only classified for Chardonnay production). Comprising less than a hectare, these vines too are ancient, planted in 1900, and still on their own roots.  Their spacious cellars are stocked with back-vintages, carefully maturing – a bank of wine that eases the vagaries of each specific growing season, protecting them from dramatic drops in yield – something that is a constant threat in Chablis. Take 2024, a year that was challenging across much of northern Europe with its wet conditions and high disease pressure, but in Chablis also brought hail that devastated huge swathes of vineyard – including Vaillons.  Global warming might have made it easier to ripen grapes in this marginal region, but it’s also made for more extreme conditions – highs and lows that keep producers on their toes. It’s also, arguably, made Chablis a little less Chablis. With riper fruit, the wines are less steely, taut and lean. Harvest dates are inevitably earlier, Paul notes, to preserve acidity and retain Chablisien backbone, but he also emphasises that the fruit requires not just sugar ripeness, but phenolic ripeness – to give dry extract and allow the wines to age. For him, working with old vines and low yields is key – both to phenolic ripeness and to preserving Chablis’s style.  The 2014 vintage – the first that Paul made – has finally just emerged from the cellar, over a decade after it was produced. It’s been a long wait, but delayed gratification is part of life at Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix.   Explore all current listings of Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix – including the 2014 Vaillon – or read more about Burgundy. 

In many ways, time stands still at Chablis’s Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix. As the latest vintage is released, we caught up with Paul-Etienne Defaix – the 16th generation to take the helm at one of the region’s oldest addresses 

Exploring this traditional Chablis estate and its top Premier and Grand Cru wines with 16th generation winemaker Paul-Etienne Defaix

Worth the wait, Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix’s Chablis wine

Worth the wait: the wines of Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix   

Over two trips to the region, our team delved into the 2022 vintage – visiting, tasting with and talking to a range of producers up and down the Côte d’Or. Here we break down the year by producer, from north to south, with a summary of how each fared and our favourite wines from the tasting table

A run-down of the Burgundy 2022 vintage wines en primeur by producer: from Fourrier to Lamy via Bernstein, Lamarche, Lambrays, Duroche and Hudelot-Noellat

Burgundy 2022 – the vintage by producer

Burgundy 2022: by producer

It’s a damp and foggy morning when I arrive once again in the very quiet streets of Auxey-Duresses for my annual pilgrimage to taste the new Maison Leroy Collection. Last year Madame Lalou Bize-Leroy was in Monaco, so I’m looking forward to seeing and tasting with her again – on what happens to be her daughter’s birthday. Two dogs rush out to greet me eagerly – the 13-year-old black poodle Nine and five-year-old Grand Basset Griffon Vendéen Olga, both quickly quietening down once appeased with some gentle pats. Madame, meanwhile, stands behind them, as elegant and unassuming as ever.   Talking briefly about the state of the market, she repeats how the most important thing is the happiness of our clients. It was at the forefront of her mind when she decided on the wines in this year’s collection, which is dominated by the 2017 and 2018 vintages, with the oldest wine from 2011. It’s good to mix things up, she tells me. After last year’s extensive library release with a flurry of back-vintages, this year she wanted to give the youngsters a chance to shine.  She describes 2018 as a more complete vintage, there is more wine, more matière than 2017; nonetheless 2017 is more refined and delicate, somehow more approachable. We talk about what makes a “grand vin” and she says: “La qualité, c’est les rendements.” (“Quality, it’s the yield.”) Taking Aligoté as an example, she explains that she’ll rarely make as much as 20hl/ha for the Domaine Leroy and Domaine d’Auvenay Aligoté – and for her that’s the limit for producing a high-quality wine. It is impossible to make a good Aligoté at 40hl/ha, she argues – and as she knows from tasting those watery, dilute wines. “I’d actually rather drink water,” she confesses. It’s no secret that her Aligoté is special: and Gilles Desprez (Bize-Leroy’s right-hand man) notes how he was once blown away by a bottle of 1999 D’Auvenay Aligoté served to him blind – a wine that those around the table all thought was a Grand Cru white.  There’s no better judge of a wine than blind tasting – as Bize-Leroy knows. To this day, she blind-tastes everything that makes its way into bottle under the Maison Leroy label. She was recently tasting some 2024s for the range and notes how it’s easy to find a great Nuits-Saint-Georges or Gevrey-Chambertin, but is too often disappointed with Vosne-Romanée and Chambolle-Musigny – struggling to uncover wines in these villages that are worthy of the Leroy seal of approval.  Our tasting begins with the reds this year, starting with an array of 2018s, sampled from south to north, “dans le sens de la Côte” (along the Côte), before moving through the 2017s to a 2016, 2015, 2012 and, finally, the oldest wine in this year’s collection, a 2011 Nuits-Saint-Georges.  The whites include an appellation that she rarely tastes and one that almost never makes it into the range: Savigny-lès-Beaune Blanc. The 2018 in this year’s collection, however, is special – a wine that you wouldn’t be a fool to call Corton-Charlemagne blind, she tells me. And (of course) Bize-Leroy is right: it is sumptuous, with a level of richness and density that far surpasses that of a mere “village”.  With air, it develops further, offering impressive complexity. Madame looks at Gilles: “It’s unfortunate we don’t have any Corton here to compare,” she says. Gilles confirms there isn’t any to hand while she considers the wine in front of her, before insisting – “Are you sure we don’t have any here?” The message is understood: Gilles says there may be some in another building and sets off to find it.   We keep chatting, tasting the 2018 Auxey-Duresses, a little shy after the 2018 Bourgogne Blanc (in her words: “the best Bourgogne Blanc we ever had”) and the superb Savigny. I ask if there are any wines she buys every year – an idea she’s fast to reject: she doesn’t have any contracts, each wine is selected purely on its quality in that specific vintage. I clarify that I meant if there were specific vineyards that she particularly likes, and finds herself buying year in, year out – and says that both Meursault Gouttes d’Or and Chassagne-Montrachet Morgeot are certainly favourites, although it all comes down to how they taste.   Gilles comes back with an unmarked bottle, immediately recognisable by its shape as Domaine Leroy. He is out of breath (earning some teasing, but also having run up and down 200 stairs to retrieve the bottle in question). The wine – a 2018 Corton-Charlemagne from the property – is quickly opened and served. It is typical Leroy: the nose is slightly muted, with some reduction and the popcorn-like notes that you often find in Bize-Leroy’s whites. On the palate, this is what you call packed: I have rarely found such concentration in a Corton-Charlemagne, even in ripe vintages chez Leroy. Madame states that she thinks many would call this a red if served totally blind, given its “matière”. “This is a grand vin,” she says. She explains how special the plot is, at the top of the hill, above her Corton Renardes: “C’est un terroir à rouge.” (“It’s a red terroir.”)   Going back to the Savigny-lès-Beaune Blanc seems like a pointless exercise after the Corton-Charlemagne – but is far from it. The Savigny has benefited from warming up and being open for an hour. In fact, it is far from ridiculous to compare it to its grander sibling. Indeed, Madame Bize-Leroy pauses over it, saying she finds the Savigny more balanced – the wine feeling beautifully layered, yet not heavy or dense. It is by far the best Savigny-lès-Beaune Blanc I have had the chance to try and – as proven by this comparison – would rival most Corton-Charlemagne. Of course, the 2018 Domaine Leroy Corton-Charlemagne is a baby – a wine built to age that will need years before being approachable and Bize-Leroy herself confirms that it won’t be released anytime soon. It has everything to be an exceptional wine in the future, but the Savigny is the one to drink now.  This is my 10th year at FINE+RARE and it’s relationships like this one that define our business: having the chance to share a moment with one of Burgundy’s legendary winemakers, talking openly and honestly about two of her wines, is truly special. Some are fast to dismiss Maison Leroy as “just” Bize-Leroy’s négociant label, perhaps out of ignorance or lack of exposure to the range. I can’t pretend these wines are cheap, but I also can’t pretend that Madame Leroy is like other winemakers. Her nose is remarkable, her access far-reaching, and the resulting wines one-of-a-kind. I can only admire this 93-year-old woman, the way she describes her wines, her humbleness, not to mention the wines that carry her name.  Tasting the 2025 Maison Leroy Collection 2018 Bourgogne Blanc: Maison Leroy’s 2018 Bourgogne Blanc is extremely expressive. Almost exuberant on the nose, it shows concentration, toasted almonds, juicy blood orange and verbena. The palate is equally impressive – and I would be easy to mistake this for a very good Meursault blind. Similarly to its red counterpart, the wine has gained in depth on the palate since we last tasted it. It is lively and expressive, yet with a signature fatness that’s so enjoyable. Madame Lalou Bize-Leroy tells me she has rarely, if ever, had a Bourgogne Blanc of this calibre – and we can only agree at this stage! Drink 2025-2031. 2018 Meursault: The 2018 Meursault from Maison Leroy is less immediately expressive than the Bourgogne Blanc, tasted just before – but don’t let that deceive you. You can feel the tension and seriousness of this wine, with hints of flinty minerality on the nose. The palate is concentrated and refined, nicely balanced and nuanced, with a creamy complexity. Compared to its Bourgogne sibling, this is clearly of a different calibre – a more aristocratic wine with greater density. Although approachable now, it will benefit from another three to five years in the cellar to express its full potential. Drink 2027-2035. 2018 Savigny-lès-Beaune Blanc: Maison Leroy’s 2018 Savigny-lès-Beaune Blanc is packed on the nose. Lovely brioche notes are underwritten by bruised apple and brighter citrus fruit, with delicate touches of lemon blossom. As the wine aerates, it keeps building in density, with layer upon layer – making for a wine that is beautifully fleshy and inviting. On the palate, the wine is so immediately rich and profound – it would be impossible to call this a village wine blind. It has the signature richness of a Corton-Charlemagne, perfectly balanced between power and tension. This is by far the best Savigny-lès-Beaune Blanc I have ever tasted and would be head and shoulders above most Corton-Charlemagne you can find on the market. This is drinking beautifully now but has everything to age effortlessly. Drink 2025-2040. 2018 Auxey-Duresses: Coming from a terroir that can sometime be a bit too flamboyant or invasive, Maison Leroy’s 2018 Auxey-Duresses feels very discreet after the Savigny-lès-Beaune. With notes of fresh almonds and a hint of reduction on the nose, this feels a bit muted. On the palate, the wine clearly has the concentration of the vintage, yet is quite elegant and restrained with a hint of white pepper. This is lovely but will need a few more years to be approachable. Drink 2028-2035. 2018 Bourgogne Rouge: Last tasted in February 2022, Leroy’s 2018 Bourgogne Rouge still displays a very charming, delicately perfumed nose that oscillates between dried rose petals and little red berries, but it seems to have gained in weight and density. It retains beautiful acidity balancing the concentration of the vintage, the finish is clean and vibrant. This is one of our favourite renditions of the cuvée in recent years, youthful and drinking beautifully now, this should keep evolving positively for another seven to 10 years. Drink 2025-2035. 2018 Monthélie: On the nose Maison Leroy’s 2018 Monthélie has beautiful notes of violets wrapped up in a mix of red and black berries, especially blackcurrant. Those very pure and delicate floral aromas carry through to the palate, accompanied by tannins that are very subtle, almost with a hint of sucrosity that makes one salivate. This is a very complete wine that outperforms in this warmer vintage: a wonderful expression of this terroir that, for me, displays the elegance of Volnay with a weightless mouth-feel. Drink 2027-2037. 2018 Volnay: Served just after the 2018 Monthélie, Maison Leroy’s 2018 Volnay has a slightly more discreet nose. It’s perfumed and all about finesse yet a bit shy at this stage. On the palate, there is good concentration and precision, but it does not provide the crunch and freshness that you’d expect at this stage. This is surely elegant and refined, but lacks that little twist that will surely come with a few more years in the cellar. Drink 2028-2040. 2018 Savigny-lès-Beaune: As with its white sibling, Maison Leroy’s 2018 Savigny-lès-Beaune could be mistaken for a Corton blind. It has such a concentrated, solar nose with a darker fruit profile. There’s density on the palate too, the wine fleshy and rich, but not heavy. It’s nicely balanced, with delicate tannin structure and a precise finish. It’s as juicy as it is approachable. Drink 2027-2037. 2017 Gevrey-Chambertin: This was one of the highlights of the 2022 Maison Leroy Collection when it was first released. The wine has retained all its depth, complexity and power, but has shut down a little bit. It is packed with dense dark cherries, hints of sweet spice and forest floor. On the palate the wine offers an enjoyable, mouth-coating, generous and balanced structure, yet the wine feels a bit muted compared to where it was three years ago. This is nonetheless offering a very long finish with fresher note lingering. This is surely a grand village Gevrey that will simply need to be forgotten in the cellar for a few years! Drink 2030-2040. 2017 Pommard: Maison Leroy’s 2017 Pommard speaks of its terroir, combining rich, brooding, ripe blackberry, with hints of blackcurrant and a touch of rusticity, lifted by the freshness and precision of the vintage. On the palate, it has a firm but delicate structure with chewy tannins that are both muscular and velvety. Tasted right after a flight of 2018s, this seems much more approachable (as is often the case with 2017s). The refreshing backbone of acidity drives through the core of the wine, lending a beautiful sappiness to the long finish. Drink 2025-2035. 2016 Santenay, Premier Cru, La Comme: Immediately expressive, Maison Leroy’s 2016 Santenay Premier Cru La Comme comes from this underrated terroir, on the southern border of Chassagne-Montrachet. The charming, multifaceted nose oscillates between raspberry and juicy cherry with a hint of liquorice. The wine is mouth-coating; you can feel the substance here, with a lovely texture that remains delicate and refined. This clearly shows the concentration of the vintage and its tiny yields, but it is all wrapped in a very elegant mouth-feel – creating a wine of great balance. It’s in such a lovely spot now that this is hard to spit out! Drink 2025-2035. 2015 Chorey-lès-Beaune: Packed on the nose, Maison Leroy’s 2015 Chorey-lès-Beaune is quite shy at first, but with a bit of swirling you start to notice how dense and saturated this wine is, with aromas of ripe blueberries, blackberries and a hint of spice (cinnamon maybe?). On the palate, it is concentrated with mouth-coating tannins and layers of berry fruit – raspberry, strawberry and blueberry. This has a lot to say and offer, with an impressively persistent finish, but will benefit from a few more years’ cellaring to reveal its full potential. Drink 2028-2040. 2012 Côte de Nuits Villages: Made with fruit from around Nuits-Saint-Georges and Corgoloin, Leroy’s 2012 Côte de Nuits Villages is always a bit backward on the nose and slightly austere. But it’s also elegant and delicate, the floral notes combining with tertiary notes. On the palate, this feels like it is in a slightly awkward phase, very dense with soft, integrated tannins yet somehow disjointed between the rich dark fruit and a tertiary character. I would leave this for a few more years before revisiting. Drink 2030-2040. 2011 Nuits-Saint-Georges: Finely perfumed, Leroy’s 2011 Nuits-Saint-Georges offers a delicate nose of mixed red berries supported by more earthy notes, some pot-pourri and a hint of spice. On the palate, it’s concentrated and charming, but with air opens further and shows its density, still youthful for a 14-year-old village wine. There’s a hint of rusticity towards the finish that makes one salivate. This is far from the austere expectation one may have for this combination of vintage and appellation. It’s not reached its drinking plateau but is perfectly approachable now. Drink 2025-2040. The new Maison Leroy collection will be released soon: you can see all the wines in the 2025 collection here. Please contact your Account Manager to register interest. 

Each year, our Buying + Partner Director Corentin Margier visits Maison Leroy in Auxey-Duresses to sample the new releases. Here, he reports on his tasting with “Lalou”, the legendary matriarch of the Leroy empire  

Ahead of the release of the 2025 Maison Leroy Collection, we visit Lalou Bize-Leroy to taste with the legendary matriarch and winemaker 

Lalou Bize-Leroy: a living legend – Burgundy’s matriarch 

Lalou Bize-Leroy: a living legend 

France's Prime Minister declared that his country was at war with an "invisible, elusive" enemy at the start of an unprecedented lockdown this month but a century ago, the enemy was clearly visible. The 1914 harvest was approaching for the growers of Champagne, but the German army also loomed large on the horizon.  In the opening months of World War I, as the grapes approached ripeness, the Germans entered the Marne Valley in a bid to inflict a quick defeat on The Western Front. Having
entered both Reims and Epernay in early September, the French launched a counter-offensive, pushing back the Germans with losses on all sides exceeding 150,000 men. Champagne remained a battleground for the duration of the war: in the forest above the village of Verzy on the Montagne de Reims, a general commanded the French fourth army, using the high vantage point as an observation post. The producers of Champagne badly needed an abundant harvest with stocks in the summer of 1914 at critically low levels but the region's men had been mobilised, leaving those
left behind – the elderly, women and children – to gather the crop they so desperately needed to the sound of gunfire. "Shortages of money, materials, transport and labour were the prevailing obstacles for everyone in the region...and with only ten days in which to organise the harvest after the German retreat, time also became a factor. Additionally, the enemy continued to shell many of the villages to the north of Epernay," writes Cynthia
Parzych in Champagne Pol Roger's official history. 
The harvest began on 21 September and continued into October. There was no luxury to wait for so-called optimal ripeness, it was a case of picking when possible and the bracing acidity imbued it with longevity. Benoît Gouez, the chef de cave of Moët and Chandon, which teamed up with Sotheby's to auction several bottles from the 1914 vintage in 2013, says,
"the harvest was brought forward due to the war, and the wine took a long time to develop but today it is truly remarkable."  However, there were casualties in the vineyard during the collection of the 1914 harvest,
including children picking in their fathers' absence. The enemy had only retreated to the outskirts of Reims and continued to rain fire on the city over the course of the next four years. Its majestic 13th century cathedral, home to coronations for 600 years, was heavily shelled, leaving only the walls standing. The once-bustling streets were left in ruins: just forty of the city’s 40,000 houses remained standing while vineyards in the Reims area were heavily shelled; craters soon replaced vines.  Meanwhile, the French government left Paris at the start of September 1914 and Bordeaux
briefly became the seat of national power. Away from the theatre of war, the Bordelais were able to harvest an abundant but relatively average-quality crop. A year later, the region's harvest was a washout: Château Latour, for example, declassified its wine as a 'vin rouge', to maintain its reputation.  The war vintages were relatively small with few hands to keep vineyards healthy and inauspicious growing conditions. However, war was thirsty work: the French government bought a quarter of a litre of wine a day for every soldier from 1916 onwards, amounting to 12 million hectolitres each year so the war years were not the financial disaster that many wine producers had originally feared.  The Belgian market closed for the duration of the war and the Russian market for fine wines ceased to exist following the 1917 Revolution. England, however, managed to drink 20,000 cases of champagne every year between 1914 and 1918. The British had clearly taken a leaf out of Winston Churchill's attitude to champagne and war: "In success you deserve it and in defeat, you need it." Explore more Editorial 

In a series of articles, Rebecca Gibb MW looks at how historic events in the last century affected the world of fine wine.

In a series of articles, Rebecca Gibb MW looks at how historic events in the last century affected the world of fine wine, starting with the 1914 vintage

The 1914 vintage

A year in wine: 1914

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