There have been Taupenots and Mermes making wine in Burgundy since as far back as the seventeenth century, and sitting at the head of eight generations of winemakers, Romain Taupenot-Merme was probably always destined to be a winemaker himself. But he started off in finance, and did very well for himself. However, in 1998, at his father’s request, he returned to the family domaine, and in due course took over.

One of his very first decisions was to turn the estate over to organic viticulture, and his philosophy is distinctly non-interventionist. no inoculation, no enzymes, no additives. It`s all about making space for the terroir to speak; the domaine has some very fine plots across 19 Burgundian appellations from the relatively humble to the sublime, and vine stock that averages 40 years old, but in some cases is much older. And in these days of ever-more widespread experimentation with whole bunch, Romain insists he is a philosophical follower of Henri Jayer and prefers to destem everything. Romain is ably assisted by his sister Virginie and together they have overseen an era of absolutely soaring quality at this domaine. (NT 12/11/19)