2023 Burgundy: Pernand, Beaune, Volnay

Rapet, Drouhin, Lafarge

Tucked behind the hill of Corton, off the back road that links up Nuits-St-Georges with the Hautes-Cotes de Nuits, the village of Pernand-Vergelesses is removed from the main Burgundian slope. But lovely wines are made here, and the village was the site of one of our big discoveries of recent years. Domaine Rapet is enthusiastically managed by Vincent Rapet and his son Robin. They have taken on the very best in modern cellar practice, but otherwise vinification is the way the family have been doing it for five generations. Stylistically, the wines are understated and gently extracted, with only a light use of new oak. Most of the reds also have a judicious touch of whole bunch to them. These wines are discreet, classy, and very appealing to drink.

The nearby wine town of Beaune is the hub of the region. Joseph Drouhin founded his Beaune winery in 1880; 144 years later, it is expertly managed by his great-grandchildren. Maison Drouhin works as a landowner, producer, and negociant, applying the very best of modern practice in viticulture and vinification to some of Burgundy’s finest terroirs, to make some very high-class wines. Their modern winery on the outskirts of Beaune contrasts with the labyrinthine medieval tunnels of their cellars under the centre of Beaune. In 1944 Maurice Drouhin, who had been helping the Resistance, used those tunnels to escape the German soldiers sent to arrest him.

'Un grand millesime en blanc et en rouge,' Frederic Lafarge told me, 'a great vintage in red and white'. His 2023s bear that out with their classicism and their understated elegance. Through the combination of meticulous care for their biodynamically farmed vineyard with traditionalist winemaking, Lafarge are producing some of the greatest wines in Volnay. The reds are elegant and composed. And from Meursault and Beaune, their white wines, which often come over in a mellow style, are this year tense and charged with energy.  /NT

Offered subject to remaining unsold. For shipment Winter 2025. To place an order, click on the wines below or call 020 7638 5998