Joseph Drouhin Puligny Montrachet

Founded in 1880 and now stewarded by the fourth generation, Maison Joseph Drouhin completed a full biodynamic conversion across its Burgundy holdings — certified by ECOCERT for the 2009 vintage — an extraordinary undertaking for a 100-hectare négociant-domaine hybrid. Puligny-Montrachet sits on the limestone-rich, clay-limestone soils of the Côte de Beaune's southern slope, where shallow topsoil over fractured limestone bedrock forces vine roots deep, concentrating mineral tension in the juice. The 2021 growing season brought severe frost pressure and mildew, demanding strict sorting; the resulting yields were small, but the fruit that survived carries the vintage's hallmark precision and cut. Vinification follows slow pneumatic pressing, with free-run juice fermented in French high-forest oak barrels using indigenous yeasts; malolactic fermentation completes in barrel alongside light bâtonnage, with 10–25% new oak (seasoned approximately three years before coopering) ensuring the wood serves the terroir rather than dominating it. What distinguishes Drouhin's approach is the deliberate restraint on new oak at village level — a house-wide philosophy of finesse over extraction, overseen by winemaker Véronique Boss-Drouhin, that keeps the limestone-driven mineral character of Puligny at the fore. The 2021 vintage delivers the freshness and precision that define the year; drink from 2025 through 2032.