Burgundy's Winemakers' Favourite Winemaker Goes Against Everything They Preach, Making Wines His Own Way; Taste Testing Domaine Dureuil Janthial's Rully Blanc Chardonnay

Let's face it, there's really only one reason wine lovers know of Rully, heck, get all excited about it even, and that's Vincent Dureuil's Domaine Dureuil-Janthial wines - not just the whites, but the reds too, which is quite the feat. And that's okay, because even your favourite winemakers' favourite winemaker is Vincent Dureuil. Even Jean-François Coche was quoted as saying, "If I see his name on a wine list, I don't give it a second thought and simply order his wine." Yet, perhaps surprisingly, Dureuil (pronounced Doo-ray) makes wines in a way that goes against everything that is fashionable today, even that of the cult winemakers who so covet his wines. 

At the northern tip of Burgundy's Cote Chalonnaise, and wedged between Mercurey and Bouzeron, Rully with its ideal clay and limestone soils is often geographically thought of as a continuation of the Cote d'Or's more haloed Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet. If studied without labels, one might even call it the Cote des Blancs. The village (pronounced Roo-Yee) takes its name from the 1st century AD Gallo-Roman Lord Rubilius who was a nothing less than a big fan of the local wines. In fact, because of its mixed slopes of chalk at the top and clay at the bottom that made for ideal growing conditions for both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay (with 23 premier crus, the second most in the Cotes de Beaune), this was therefore the birthplace of Burgundy's first Cremant in 1822. Yet, unfortunately, despite the village's early success, a series of sweeping hardships that faced Europe would see the village's winegrowing severely shrink down from some 600 hectares in 1895 to just under 90 hectares across 10 growers by 1945, most of whom simply sold their produce to negociants. Today though Rully has started to quietly make its way back to the top with increasing recognition from the wine community at large having acknowledged that even in this humble terroir, wines of substance and clarity can be produced, balancing both richness and freshness with then the utmost generosity.

The village's finest "ambassador" then surely has to be Vincent Dureuil. Hailing from the Janthial family who've called Rully home since at least the 13th century, Dureuil and his wife, Celine, had taken over the reins to the estate in 1994 (from Vincent's father, Raymond Dureuil), together pulling in estates across mainly Rully and Mercurey in the Cote Chalonnaise, with then parcels in Puligny-Montrachet and the Nuits Saint Georges inherited by the husband and wife respectively. This totals up to 22 hectares, with 19 hectares of those in Cote Chalonnaise, and then 3 hectares in the Cote d'Or. Having begun working the family's estate since the tender age of 24, the avid skiier on the side has now spent the better part of three decades pushing not only his wines but arguably the appellation as a whole into its long over due, well deserved spotlight. Lauded for his abilities with both reds and whites, a rarity anywhere in the world, Dureuil shirks from calling his wines innovative, instead preferring to emphasise his meticulous effort in the vineyards and focused winemaking, often caught spending up to 14 hours a day amongst his vines - this again unconventional in his village where for long growers have been incentivised to choose volume over quality. Yet, with his deep family history in the village and the parcels of old vines he was entrusted with - much of which going up to 50 - 75 years old, having been planted by Vincent's grandfather in the late 1940's - Dureuil understood intimately what treasure was in his hands, to which he would take this humble slice of forgotten Burgundy and give it the utmost attention needed to realise its full potential. Testament to his efforts then is his clinching of the title for Revue du Vin de France's Winemaker of the Year 2019.

Getting into the vineyards, Dureuil unsurprisingly farms organically, whilst also firmly adhering to lunar calendars which offers its guidance for all activities to be done in the domaine. Using regular ploughing, Dureuil practices buttage, where soil is butted up around the root and grafts so as to shield them from frost, with efforts made to control for weed growth whilst also eschewing the use of cover crops. Further trimming is done with a tractor to aerate the soils, with then the vines trained Guyot for the whites, and Guyot-Poussard and Cordon regimes for the reds to not only naturally prevent disease, but also to limit yields, with each vine only allowed a single spur. Taken from his grandfather, these traditional practices are then met with Dureuil's own daring when it comes to setting harvesting dates which the intrepid winemaker proudly touting his willingness to pick his fruit late so as to achieve perfect physiological and phenolic ripeness that lends his wines its signature combo of generosity and freshness. Once ready, the fruit is hand harvested, a practice that alongside organic farming was unheard of when Dureuil first started in Rully.

In the cellars, Dureuil intensely sorts his already small yield of fruit, then making sure to press his fruit hard, just as his grandfather did, with the reds destemmed and cold macerated for 8-10 days before allowed to spontaneously fermented with native yeasts in stainless steel tanks and wooden fermenters, after which the red wines (Pinot Noir and Gamay) are then aged in French oak barrels (1/3 new) for 16-18 months. The whites (Chardonnay and Aligote) are pressed whole cluster (to the point of being allowed to oxidise under the press, taking on a dark brown colour) directly into barrels, making sure to get in as much solids as possible, where it is spontaneously fermented with native yeasts after a 24 hour static settling window, and then aged in French oak barrels (under 25% new) for also 16-18 months, during which batonnage is done to suspend the lees. All wines are given minimal sulphur until bottling, where it's then racked to stainless steel tanks for 4-6 more months before being bottled unfined and unfiltered - much to his father's disapproval! Through the entire process, during which all steps follow the lunar calendar, Dureuil is focused on the use of hard and long presses, cold maceration and slow fermentations to conserve as much of the fruit's character as possible, whilst keeping extraction gentle and simultaneously preserving acidity and freshness. Stepping into the cellar, it's notable just how deep and cold the space is, which in turn allow for the winemaking process to move at a more delicate and unhurried pace, where almost every phase takes longer than usual. Finally, it should also be noted that Dureuil is incredibly precise where it comes to his barrels, sourcing all of them from Beaune tonnellerie Chassin, where the highly sought after coopers themselves are allowed. to taste the wines and make the call on what barrel profiles would work best to draw out Dureuil's Rully terroir. Consequently, Dureuil works with classic Burgundy barrels that he believes are better able to stabilise the wine's temperature where a more fashionable, larger one would simply get too hot quickly.

Vincent with his daughter, Margot.

Yet despite it all, even as the star of Rully, Vincent's Domaine Dureuil-Janthial remains highly underrated - your sommelier's favourite wine, really - simply plugging away, hiding in plain sight just off the paved roads.

Now with that said, let's give Vincent's signature Rully Blanc a go! 

Wine Review: Domaine Dureuil-Janthial Rully Blanc

100% Chardonnay.

With fruit hand harvested from 15 to 70 year old vines across the domaine's own vineyards, La Martelle, Chaponniere, La Bergerie and Le Meix Cadot, where the soils are characterised by a mix of limestone and clay, many of these vines were planted by Vincent's grandfather in 1949. Upon harvest, the fruit is pressed hard whole cluster, with the lees allowed to settle for 24-48 hours. It is then allowed to ferment naturally with native yeasts in French oak barrels (20% new), before being aged for 12 months in barrel, with a final 6 months in stainless steel tank. It is bottled unfined and unfiltered, following the lunar calendar.

This is the 2023 vintage.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Gold

Aroma: Opens alittle flinty and spiced, of gunpowder, cardamoms and curry leaves, really polished and almost waxy, which delicately envelopes a much more opulent candied core of fleshy, musky fruits of gooseberries, quince, peaches and mangosteens, backed by a lightly savoury half of baked apples and pears. It's topped with a good bit of lees, doughy, nutty, with knobs of cold butter and chopped almonds. There's a lightly lactic bit to the creaminess, almost of peach yogurt rings. It's rich yet taut, with a glossiness that holds in this really compacted body, really firm but also supple. With time, it gains a tropical character, giving zesty passionfruits, with also a gently rustic whiff of animal hide. There's then an undercurrent of minerality of slate, wet stone and mineral spring water that easily gives the bouquet a lift.

Taste: Medium-bodied here, really plush and lush, rich, velvety, certainly dense, bodied and rounded yet met with a vibrant and pristine acidity that offers an almost streaky freshness. Totally polished, there's then this immense core of concentrated yet delicately saturated tropical fruits, of passionfruits, gooseberries, mangosteens, quince, custard apples and soursops. It's fleshy and opulent, candied, creamy, with a hit of black pepper for that tingly spiciness. 

Finish: The compacted core of fruits now opens up to a bloom of expressive and vibrant musky tropical fruits, of jackfruits and passionfruits galore. Super lush and elegant, both aromatics and textures, it's only more honeyed and candied even as it maintains that supple richness through the seamless finish. A touch of pepperiness then, with mineral wet stones, chiselled slate, and also exotic spices of cardamoms and curry leaves hanging on.

My Thoughts

An immense wine that is as opulent as it is polished, bountiful and expressive, yet with such clarity and freshness! There's just so much that is offered here, all whilst clearly demonstrating a sense of curation, linearity and refinement. It carries an almost waxy, glossy sheen from its aromas to the body, candied and compacted with concentrated tropical fruits that are lifted up so readily by the clean minerality that always run though it. It's leesy on the nose, with then a more fleshy, fruit driven body, but where it really takes it up a notch is the finish where that marbled and condensed fruited core blossoms to this beautifully expressive melange of tropical fruits, bookending the wine with that delicate but distinct reduction and exotic spices. Make no mistake, this Chardonnay may appear suave and poised, but it carries with it an immense drive and power that is so well hidden in plain sight, perhaps not all that unlike the domaine from which it comes from. A perfect encapsulation!

Kanpai!

@111hotpot