2020 Domaine Derain Bourgogne Landré

WINEMAKER: Julien Altaber & Carole Schwab
REGION: Burgundy, FR
VARIETAL: Chardonnay
VITICULTURE: Certified Biodynamic

"When you pour a glass of this lovely Chardonnay you will first notice the golden colour with hues of green. But don’t spend too long admiring the colour as it is the mouth-enveloping flavour that will really impress you.

The weight of the wine is not too heavy and there is a lovely streak of acidity which is noticeable but not too dominant. The soil also speaks to you in the glass with pronounced minerality and even saltiness similar to that we find in, say, les Saulniers from Domaine Cadette.

Landré is a newish parcel (lieu dit) of Bourgogne Blanc for the domaine named after the former owner of the plot. At only 0.3 of a hectare, it is adjacent to their Le Riaux Pinot Noir plot. At this size there will never be very much of this wine, but the site ensures that the wine will always be of high quality due to the soils here." - Living Wines

Dominique Derain started his career making wine barrels but decided, instead, to study winemaking in Beaune. In 1988 he and his wife Catherine purchased 5.5 hectares of vineyards in Saint-Aubin just south of Beaune and began tending the vines biodynamically and making their wines in a non-interventionist way as well.

A few years ago, Dominique officially retired. His long time assistant Julien Altaber and his partner, Carole Schwab (who also worked for Dominique managing the administration) bought the domaine from him. Julien, in addition to working for Dominique, had started his own domaine (Sextant) some years before, initially making his own wine in Dominique’s cellar, so it was a natural changing of the guard.