Burgundy has no shortage of legendary cuvees and vineyards - yet much more rarely is the case that one belongs to a negociant house. But make no mistake, for this is no ordinary negociant, it's instead one that has consistently demonstrated a definite boldness that has allowed it to achieve some incredibly pioneering feats, that have even taken its name to the New World - this is none other than Joseph Drouhin. Now Joseph Drouhin's Clos des Mouches holds little equivalents or comparisons when it comes to Beaune appellation Pinot Noirs - yet, exceedingly less so for it's even more highly prized Beaune Chardonnay. Let's get into it!

Maison Joseph Drouhin, so named after first-generation Chablis native Joseph Drouhin, was established in 1880 when Drouhin had come to Beaune with the goal of succeeding as a negociant (to purchase fruit which was to be made into wines). Drouhin was deeply passionate about showcasing the diverse terroirs of Burgundy, and had opposed the practice of blending fruit from regions outside of Burgundy that was then often labelled as Burgundy and which he saw as the chief culprit for stalling the region's recognition. He would also begin the multi-generational work of acquiring the ancient cellars underneath the cobblestone streets of Beaune, which are still used primarily today by the Maison to store and age their wines. These cellars date as far back as the 13th Century, and even once belonged to the Duke of Burgundy, today stretching some 2.5 acres of limestone hallways that is often described as a labyrinth. 

(Left) Maison Joseph Drouhin's office and cellars in Beaune; (Right) The legendary Hospices de Beaune charity wine auction that Drouhin participates in annually.

In time to come, Joseph's son, Maurice, would take over the house and would ambitiously expand upon his father's work, helping to establish the Institut National de l'Origine (INAO) which is today the governing body responsible for determining terroir appellations (AOC). Maurice lived an incredibly action-packed life to say the least! He would be responsible for concealing and hiding away the family's wines from the Nazi's during WWII, had served publicly as the town's Mayor whilst joining the French Resistance undercover, had sought to dupe the Germans with poorer quality wines and instead routing good wines to the local community, was spot checked by a German wine master whom he won over to his side, and when all of that had finally caught up to him - would flee via his underground cellars all the way to the Hospices de Beaune where he was stashed away by the nuns, and yet would regularly meet his wife at the local church to check in on the harvest and the cellars. In gratitude for his protection, Maurice would contribute annually to the now famed Hospices de Beaune wine auction, which the Drouhin family has continued to honour till today.

Yet, beyond that, Maurice was also incredibly far sighted when it came to what Burgundian winemaking was about to evolve towards. Whilst it was common practice at the time in the 1800's up till the early 1900's for viticulture and viniculture to be kept separate, with growers taking care of producing the fruit, who would then sell it to negociant houses who would in turn be responsible for making and selling the wines, Maurice had anticipated that growers would inevitably begin to take the entire winemaking process in-house, which would make it increasingly difficult for negociant houses to access quality fruit. This prompted Maurice to begin purchasing vineyards starting from the 1920's - his very first purchase was none other than the legendary Clos des Mouches!

The legendary walled Clos des Mouches vineyard.

At the time, given the inaccessibility due to a lack of transport, Maurice had figured that it would perhaps make sense to pick a vineyard that was within walking distance from his offices in Beaune. Even in the 1920's, preceding the classifications so heavily relied upon today, the rare walled off vineyards of Clos des Mouches was already highly regarded as one that was of top quality within the area. Named after the bees that would often be spotted in the vineyards gathering pollen ("Mouches" to mean "Bees" in Burgundian dialect), the vineyard sat on the border of Pommard, towards the south of Beaune. And so, starting in 1921, Maurice would begin acquiring parcels of the Clos des Mouches, over time acquiring some 41 parcels from 8 different owners, together forming over half of the climat - the largest parcel within the cru in fact, totalling some 14 acres, and also the largest cru holding of the Drouhin portfolio in Burgundy and the Cote d'Or.

In time to come, Maurice would go on to acquire other notable vineyards such as the Clos de Vougeot, gradually expanding across the Cote d'Or. And whilst some of these later purchases would prove more prestigious, receiving Grand Cru designation, it is undoubtedly the Premier Cru Clos des Mouches that kickstarted it all - today it remains the family's prized possession, one that it is most sentimental towards, and is Maison Joseph Drouhin's flagship. 

A young Robert Drouhin.

The Drouhin house would progressively only achieve greater heights, with each successive generation helming incredibly the family's estate. Third-generation Robert Drouhin (who took over from his father, Maurice, in the 1950's) was just about as ambitious and bold, being the first in the region to embrace oenological advances, and therefore had established a laboratory that was to be run by Burgundy's first female oenologist, Laurence Jobard, and would also bravely make the Drouhin house the first to export its Old World winemaking to the New World, finding a second home in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, USA, embracing similar latitude viticulture before most anyone else recognised the potential that Oregon had to offer. He was also amongst the first in the deeply traditional region to pursue the now gold standard organic (and biodynamic) farming, having been convinced by precisely an experience that he had in the family's Clos des Mouches vineyards!

Fourth-generation Veronique and Philippe Drouhin in the Clos des Mouches vineyards as children. Today Veronique serves as the Maison's oenologist and Philippe as its vineyard manager.

As the story goes, it was a Saturday morning in the early 1980's when Robert was preparing to take his son Philippe (today the Maison's vineyard manager) out fishing and had thought to stop by the Clos des Mouches vineyard to pick up some earthworms to be used as bait. To his surprise, every clump of soil pulled from the ground yielded nothing. In that moment, Robert knew what the reality was - the soils were not healthy even if Drouhin had farmed it to the best of his ability, and was doing everything "right" and using the modern and widely embraced technologies of the time with chemical pesticides and herbicides - and something radical had to be done soon. “When I took over the reins of the estate in 1988, my father told me something that struck me, he told me we are coming out of a period when agricultural engineers did such exceptional work that the vines are magnificent, they are very green, they are very strong but, in the end I make less good wine. At the same time I involuntarily received from my viticulture teachers answers to basic questions that convinced me that the culture of synthetic chemistry was not the future.” says Philippe. 

Robert would thus sought to rethink how farming should be practiced, and would pay serious attention to the healthy and biodiversity of the soils and vineyards, and not just on whether the vines were fruiting sufficiently and successfully, which was entirely unconventional then. This led him towards what we know today as organic farming, which is by today's standards the ideal golden benchmark. The Clos des Mouches would thus be fertilised only with manure, white wood and guano, with the soil ploughed much more gently with the help of horses and two-row tractors, to ensure the soil is sufficiently aerated and not only compact. The vines are also given a series of self-prepared herbal and mineral infusions and macerations to boost its health, whilst density was over time increased (to 12,500 vines per hectare), with yields reduced to 20% below appellation regulations. With the Clos des Mouches serving as the touchstone in 1989, all of the Drouhin family's other vineyards would eventually be converted fully to organic and biodynamic by 1997, marking the Maison as amongst the first to embrace sustainable farming.

"That was a good lesson, and I think that, since then we have corrected that, if we wanted to go fishing tomorrow we could certainly find the earthworms again," Robert would reflect later on.

Ultimately, in his long and storied career helming the family's estate, Robert would go on to acquire for the Drouhin house many of the great terroirs of Burgundy, expanding to the Cote de Nuits with vineyards in Musigny, Griotte Chambertin, Chambertin Clos de Beze, Batard-Montrachet, Bonnes Mares, Grands Echezeaux and many more. By the late 60's, he would even purchase sizeable plots in Chablis, namely the 38 hectare Le Moulin de Vaudon, which was in many ways a full circle moment, marking a return of the Drouhin family to the home of first-generation Joseph Drouhin.

The third and fourth generations of the Drouhin family.

Today, the Maison Joseph Drouhin is led by the fourth-generation of Drouhin's, who have gradually joined the family's house since the 1960's, with each of Robert Drouhin's four children sharing the work in their various roles - Frederic serving as the house's President, Veronique as oenologist, Philippe as vineyard manager and Laurent as taking charge of marketing for the US market. Maison Joseph Drouhin today owns over 35 hectares of vines in Burgundy across the Cote d'Or (Cotes de Beaune , Cotes de Nuit and Cote Chalonnaise; of which 90% are Premier Cru and Grand Cru) and 38 hectares in Chablis, with then a further 36 hectares in Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA, focusing on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay across its vineyards both in France and the US. The house grows about one-third of its wines, with the remaining two-thirds coming from its negociant business, although conversely on a value basis the inverse is the case, with its estate grown wines responsible for two-thirds of its business.

The Clos des Mouches vineyard.

Heading into the legendary Clos des Mouches vineyards belonging to the Drouhin house, a striking peculiarity immediately stands out - the vineyards, elevated at 230 to 280 meters above sea level, showcasing a breathtaking diversity of soils and aspects, is noticeably planted with an almost checkerboard-like appearance of red and white fruit, with alternating lots of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the latter of which is itself more uncommon in Beaune, with the former being the flagship varietal of the region. This was in fact not the original state of the vineyards, and is instead the work of second-generation Maurice Drouhin.

When Maurice had first come to acquire the estate through the 1920's, it was in fact planted fully to Pinot Noir (with the odd Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris), in line with much of the vineyards of Beaune. At the time, the vineyards had just overcome the scourge of phylloxera that took over all of France and much of Europe, and thus it was up to Maurice to revitalise the land. And so Maurice, thinking to include some more white varietals, of Chardonnay (it was also common at the time to use Pinot Gris, also known as Pinot Beurot, for this purpose), which he had figured could be used for chaptalisation (to provide extra sugar that would bring up the final alcohol level to a sufficient amount as it was often that Pinot Noir had struggled to ripen in those times) should the reds not sufficiently ripen, or alternatively simply use it to lighten the reds. Maurice had originally planned to simply harvest them altogether and co-ferment them, but as the story goes, that in the 1928 season, the Chardonnay's had ripened far too late to be co-fermented with the Pinot Noir, which prompted Maurice to separately produce two barrels of Chardonnay that he hadn't wanted to let go to waste, and would simply have as a white wine for the house. Yet when he had given it a taste, he was starstruck by its quality that he had decided to replant the entire vineyards of 14 hectares with an equal portion of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay (of 7 hectares each)!

The Drouhin's at the ancient wine press that sits above their historic Beaune cellars.

With its diversity of terrains, featuring soils that transition from limestone and marl at the center to rocky clay and limestone towards the upper slopes, it was thus decided that this could be most advantageous if the vines are tended to in as many configurations of elevation, orientation and exposure, as well as vine age. And so by harvesting and vinifying each parcel separately, the widest possible palette from which to paint the final cuvee from can be achieved, allowing for optimal precision in determining what becomes Drouhin's most iconic wine. According to fourth-generation Frederic Drouhin, this then becomes a matter of completing a puzzle in which he aims to recreate the signature Clos des Mouches essence year after year.

The walled vineyards of honeybees.

As the Clos des Mouches parcel belonging to the Drouhin's is not only the family's and also the appellation's largest, it being fully contiguous has allowed the Drouhin's the most amount of control when it comes to viticulture, particularly as there's little exposure to neighbouring vineyards that may utilise a different farming regime. Consequently, the Clos des Mouches also happens to be where much of the family's innovations in sustainability take place. The vines today are on average 40 years old and are naturally low yielding, owing to decades of commitment to quality farming, with then new vines replenished each year via selection massale, using vine stocks from the Drouhin's private nursery. Each harvest, only about 70-80% of the fruit from the Clos des Mouches vineyards are used, with the remaining fruit, including those from vines that are still considered too young, going then into the Joseph Drouhin Cote de Beaune cuvee, making the region labelled wine something of an insider's secret for great value.

The spiritual home of the Drouhin's.

And so yielding from this hallowed vineyards are ultimately the iconic pair of Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches Blanc and Rouge, with the Blanc commanding quite the substantial premium given its quality on its own and then also its relative rarity in the region (86% of Beaune being Pinot Noir reds). Often when asked why it was that the Drouhin's hadn't simply decided to uproot the reds and simply focus on the whites given its premium, Frederic Drouhin would simply muse, "Because we like it!" The Clos des Mouches goes beyond cru status, and its designation as a Premier Cru (as opposed to Grand Cru, which Beaune does not have any of), has not only little bearing on the wine community's love and reverence for the wines made by the Drouhin's, but most importantly, the vineyard serves as the spiritual home of the Drouhin family, who holds deep sentimentality to it, which goes beyond any designation, status or price.

PS. It is said that even the Drouhin's beloved family dogs are buried by the estate upon their passing.

Wine Review: Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches Blanc

Harvested by hand, the 100% Chardonnay is slowly pressed using a pneumatic press, with the free run juice separated from that of the last press, which is then transferred into a wine barrel and allowed a little bit of skin contact depending on vintage. It's spontaneously fermented in oak barrels (as is traditional Burgundian winemaking) with indigenous yeasts, with the wine also undergoing malolactic fermentation. It's then aged in oak barrels (20-25% new oak) for 16-18 months. French oak from high altitude forests are used, which are first seasoned for about 3 years before being coopered into barrels.

This is the 2023 vintage.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Straw

Aroma: It opens rich and honeyed, incredibly candied, layered upon softly musky fruits of gooseberries, and more exotic, tropical mangosteens, lychees, longans and langsat, then garnished with bouquets of white florals. It's bold and perfumed, superbly evocative, with such a firm candied richness. The candied maltose builds to such a depth, drizzled over a chewy nuttiness of nougat and toasted almonds that serves as the canvas.

Taste: Medium-bodied here, luscious with good richness and a supple texture. The acidity here is gleaming yet completely softened and rounded. It's again candied and honeyed, over tropical white fruits of longans, langsats, custard apples and mangosteens, with a delicate perfumed musk. There's a subtle chalky minerality that outlines it, with then a lifted freshness from the bright acidity. Really beautiful fullness, without heaviness despite its richness.

Finish: Bursts of maltose candy again, with this musty depth of aged honey. Those gooseberries are alittle more musky here, seamlessly leading through a clean finish. Alot of that candied maltose lingers on, super aromatic, with then just a tidbit of precise savouriness and dried herbaceousness that counterbalances the luscious richness.

My Thoughts

This feels so impressively ethereal with this bountiful candied lusciousness that adorns its perfumed aromas, coupled with those beautiful white florals and nutty nougat, as well as that rich and supple fullness of the body, decked over those exotic tropical white fruits. The acidity here is bright and shimmery yet completely softened and rounded, where its at once delicate yet completely and so handily and gently offering the richness of the body an elegant and fresh lift - almost like a parent lovingly picking up a child! Into the finish, that cornucopia of candied maltose comes through ever so vibrantly and lusciously, here with this stunning depth of mustiness of aged honey, with then a long and seamless finish. And as a final stroke to the masterpiece, just a wedge of savouriness that perfectly balances out the richness of everything offered thus far! It shows incredible depth, vibrance and balance, and with such elegance and confidence.

This feels entirely evocative of a cheese and charcuterie board to be had in a rustic countryside cottage nestled in a meadow.

Wine Review: Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches Rouge

Harvested by hand, the 100% Pinot Noir is pressed using a vertical press and then vinified 20-50% whole crop harvest (depending on vintage), where it then undergoes 2-3 weeks of fermentation and maceration in small open vats, where the cap is punched and the wine is pumped over. Fermentation takes place spontaneously with indigenous yeasts. It's then aged in oak barrels (25% new oak) for 14-18 months. French oak from high altitude forests are used, which are first seasoned for about 3 years before being coopered into barrels.

This is the 2023 vintage.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Ruby

Aroma: Opens with great freshness balanced against the supple richness of raspberry and strawberry preserves, garnished with rose petals that come through alongside tones of vanilla. It's perfumed and incredibly aromatic, very evocative, with a slightly confectionary quality. More on lightly tart red fruit candies of red licorice and cherry lollies. It's showing impressive depth.

Taste: Medium-bodied here, supple texture with good concentration of red fruits of cherries and raspberries, here with a crack of black pepper, again laid over tones of vanilla cream. Subtle touches of green bell peppers underneath the silky and creamy body. Despite the richness, it's firm, with tannins completely polished and softened, incredibly giving, where the acidity is bright and fresh, with just a light yet precise tartness. It's lively and vibrant, yet rich and supple, offering a great contrast.

Finish: Strawberry jams and vanilla cream, it's alittle more confectionary here, leading seamlessly and plushly towards a clean finish, with then more cherry and vanilla cream that lingers on.

My Thoughts

Really fruit forward, this felt incredibly beguiling with that supple richness of red fruit preserves coupled with the perfume of roses and the more confectionary tones of vanilla that banded together to give a candied quality almost of cherry and cream lollies - reminiscent of Alpenliebe candies - although here rendered with such a beautiful concentration and purity of the red fruits, so fresh even, and with such silky and plush tannins, balanced against just that slight tartness of the acidity. The tannins are polished and resolved, with the acidity bright and precise. It feels fresh and youthful, yet one can't help but feel a softening of the heart towards such sensual purity. A really charming red that draws you in; yet subtly shows such polish and refinement - so plush that you almost fall into it.