Joseph Drouhin Chassagne Montrachet Rouge

Founded in 1880 and now stewarded by the fourth generation, Maison Joseph Drouhin completed a full biodynamic conversion across its 100-hectare Burgundy estate under Philippe Drouhin — earning ECOCERT certification for the 2009 vintage, an extraordinary undertaking for a négociant-domaine of this scale. Chassagne-Montrachet Rouge draws from the limestone-clay soils of the Côte de Beaune's southern flank, where the same bedrock that underpins the village's celebrated white Chardonnay parcels imparts a chalky, tightly wound mineral tension to Pinot Noir — a structural signature rarely achieved at village level. Vinification follows Drouhin's house protocol: total destemming, fermentation in small open vats with indigenous yeasts, pigeage and pumping-over across a 2–3 week maceration, then 12–18 months in 228L or 300L French high-forest oak barrels at 15–25% new wood. Horse-ploughed soils and cover crops between vine rows reflect the biodynamic discipline that drives the site's expressive mineral character. What distinguishes this cuvée is the transgression of expectation: Chassagne-Montrachet is one of Burgundy's most famous white wine communes, yet the Rouge — from the same limestone-clay terroir — delivers a Pinot Noir of genuine site specificity rather than generic village character. The 2013 vintage, though not among Burgundy's most celebrated, produced wines of notable freshness and structural precision; this bottle is drinking well now and will continue to develop through the late 2020s.