From Michelin Chef To Beaune Superstar, Catharina Sadde Has Been Inside The World's Most Prized Vineyards And Cellars, And Now Makes Her Own Lighter Touch Wines; Taste Testing Burgundy's Rising Les Horees' Cult Coteaux Bourguinons Mon Poulain
If there's anyone who has an impeccable ability to stand out, it surely has to be the soft spoken yet entirely charming Catharina Sadde. Equanimous and soothing, Catharina has at every step of her career worked at the highest, most competitive levels. From Michelin kitchens to some of the most legendary addresses in Burgundy, Catharina seems unflappable with an utterly quiet confidence - the sort of person you go to when the sky is falling and just know that everyone is going to be alright. Her unassuming serenity thus so effortlessly conceals her magic combo of immense work ethic and talent. Perhaps the only indicator then is the sheer - and borderline fanatical - enthusiasm over her wines which she produces under the label, Les Horees.
Hailing from Dresden, German, Catharina was originally on her way to becoming a chef, having worked at Michelin kitchens around Europe before eventually deciding that this was not to be. She would thus head back to school to study nutrition, during which Catherina would also work at a local wine shop, which had then arranged for her to experience a harvest in Germany's Nahe region, famed for its mineral driven Rieslings. It was during this brief but pivotal time that Catharina had decided to pursue winemaking. She would spend the next years studying oenology and viticulture at the prestigious Geisenheim University and also at Montpellier, before then undertaking an 8 year journey across some of the most famous wine addresses across Burgundy that would later deeply influence her own winemaking. She would apprentice across Schafer-Frohlich, Domaine Chevrot (where she would meet her auctioneer husband Guilhem, and for whom she would make Burgundy her home), Comte Armand and Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, with also seasonal jobs at Maison Drouhin and Domaine Comte de Vogüe, often doing 2-3 harvests per season, as well as deeper stints at Domaine Cecile Tremblay and Domaine Marquis d'Angerville, where she would oversee the Vosne-Romanee parcels and serve as head of viticulture, respectively. She even got in a commercial role at the legendary Burgundian wine exporter, Becky Wasserman's Le Serbet. This all whilst pregnant with twins along the way, with now a third child having joined the family. At this point already, it feels like there is little that Catharina cannot do, or at the very least that we could convince ourselves that perhaps she has more hours in the day than the rest of us.
Getting a foot in the Burgundian door is anything but easy, yet once in, it's a rollercoaster.
By this time, Catharina had already racked up a formidable wealth of experience and had desired to find her place in Burgundy. She would nevertheless bide her time at the domaines, having known full well that in the hallowed grounds of Burgundy, prized parcels were often passed down from one generation to the next, and so establishing a firm footing as a winemaker new to the region was not something readily possible. When a parcel in Beaune - the Les Prevolles vineyard - was finally offered to her in 2018, it was thus her husband's encouragement that solidified her next big step; by 2019, Les Horées was born. Taken from the Greek mythology of the Horae, ancient goddesses that represented the changing of the seasons, the natural order and the passage of time, its etymology can be read as "right moment" or "hour", which Catharina interprets as Die Horen in German and Les Horees in French, the latter of which she preferred. For her, Les Horees encapsulates the festivities associated with the changing of the seasons, which she found resonated with her passion for biodynamic viticulture and its intimate relationship with nature's cadence. Just as serendipitously as Catharina was offered her first plot, two more in Pommard and Volnay would quicly follow, rounding out her holdings to nevertheless still a minuscule 1.3 hectares across the three crus - in 2021 she would acquire a further plot in Puligny where she has begun to plant Chardonnay, making for a total 1.56 hectares.
Catharina's secret ingredient if anything is an immense attention to detail with every parcel farmed to utmost standards.
Whilst still small in size, her parcels would give her access to a range of century old Aligote vines in Volnay, along with cooler climate limestone grown Pinot Noir and her newly planted higher altitude Chardonnay, with Gamay then purchased from growers in the Cote d'Or, Macon and Beaujolais whom she is familiar with and who also adhere to organic and biodynamic farming principles, marking Les Horees as blend of grower and negociant. To supplement her currently micro domaine, Catharina has also rented several parcels (bringing it up to 4.7 hectares in total) that allows her a footprint that runs from Beaune to Coteaux Bourguignons, as well as Pernand-Vergelesses and Savigny-les-Beaune, allowing her to produce a wider range of wines from regional to village level and of course, single vineyard (all the way up to Premier Cru at the moment), many of which have become incredibly sought after - even though her original intent was to simply farm a "little garden" that was close enough to her house that she could cycle to! That said, as her family lives in Beaune, her priority remains doing her work relatively close by, which she has touted as allowing her to act upon decisions more spontaneously.
Catharina preparing by hand the biodynamic tinctures that is used to strengthen her vines.
An ardent follower of biodynamics, all of Les Horees' fruits be it domaine, rented or purchased are farmed in accordance to those principles. In particular, Catharina emphasises her use of hand dynamization where horn manure and horn silicate preparations are mixed by herself in a large wooden vat, which she then applies the dynamized tea and plant mixtures onto the vines several times over the season by tractor and caterpillar - this is also the case also for the vineyards which she doesn't own where she has gained enough trust to be allowed to step in periodically to make the applications herself. Catharina also takes care to keep the soils aerated, with ploughing minimised and done either by horse, caterpillar or manually with a hoe. The domaine has also begun to sow green covers to fertilize and decompact the soils, whilst also managing water competition, with the vines Guyot-Poussard pruned to support sap flow. There is also much effort done to enhance biodiversity with more aromatics being planted, including roses, bushes, hedges and trees surrounding the vineyards and even between the vines. Nevertheless given the small parcels on hand and Catharina's meticulousness, vineyard work remains site-specific and each parcel is treated differently based on its needs, with ultimately the goal being to create optimal conditions for soil health and long term vine resilience. Harvest is of course manual for all her fruit, with arrangements in place where she takes off the load of picking from landowners, thus allowing her to decide on maturity levels and harvest dates.
As the domaine continues to grow, Catharina has stated that her ambition is to gradually reduce her use of purchased fruit and eventually farm all of her fruit herself, giving her greater control and precision over her viticulture. She has also expressed preference for cooler, higher altitude limestone sites to produce fresh, tense and mineral wines, and also her love for Aligote, with then a view towards heading north. With the unprecedented climate change, Catharina is said to have also begun experimenting with historic Burgundian varieties including Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay Rose, Sacy, Melon de Bourgogne, Peurion and Gouais Blanc, with also massale selections of Chardonnay and Aligote to better observe their resilience.
Les Horees would quickly outgrow its small Pommard cellar within just two vintages, now having moved to a more appropriately sized space in Beaune.
In her first years (2019 and 2020), Les Horees' wines were vinified in a small rented space in Pommard, which has now been moved in 2021 to a larger cellar in Beaune previously belonging to Domaine Herve Kerlann, allowing for more sufficient space that is needed for the wines to be aged for longer - it even includes a well furnished kitchen! The philosophy in the cellar is to remain minimal intervention so as to create terroir expressive wines, albeit with a twist. As is to be expected from such an ethos, there is an emphasis on whole bunch fermentation (not entirely, but mostly) with minimal to no sulphur usage (only ever after malolactic fermentation is complete). Fermentation is spontaneous with native yeasts, which Catharina believes is what imbues the wine with minerality and complexity, with then gentle extraction as the must is only gently washed and given just a little foot trodding pigeages. The wines are then aged for 9-14 months with a light hand using older French oak barrels to minimise the wood's influence on the wines, with then just a light filtration done depending on the vintage.
Les Horees has quickly become a cult wonder, with wines that are elegant and delicate, yet detailed and thoroughly lucid.
The goal is ultimately to produce wines that are transparent and yet at the same time reflect the nuances of its provenance, accessible but also serious. In that sense, Les Horees tethers on the edge of natural winemaking. Specifically, the whites are crushed before pressing, with then native yeast driving spontaneous fermentation (with no added sulphur) in barrels and stainless steel tanks, that is then aged for 9-14 in used French oak barriques. The reds feature varying amounts of whole cluster, typically ranging from 40% to 80% (with select cuvees fully destemmed or 100% whole cluster), which is then spontaneously fermented with no sulphur in also barrels and stainless steel tanks, after which it is aged for 9-14 months in used French oak barriques. In both instances little to no sulphur is added just before bottling for reassurance. Catharina even specially uses harder and denser corks from old oak, which comes from a reserve near Lisbon, that is then hand coated with beeswax.
More is surely to come from Les Horees.
Producing a range of whites, reds and even rose from her Chardonnay, Aligote, Pinot Noir and Gamay, Les Horees certainly punches above its weight in terms of offerings, yet what is perhaps most eyecatching of all is her Aganippe Bourgogne Blanc cuvee which is a blend of two vintages!
Altogether, whilst Les Horees has most definitely burst out of the gate charging, having already made quite a splash in just a few vintages, Catharina remains resolute in wanting to continue to develop and improve upon her wines. Expectations run high given her pedigree, and yet she has never failed to impress - her debut in the 2019 vintage was particularly remarkable given the challenges that came her way, which she most certainly handled with great aplomb!
To that end, we'll be tasting through one of Les Horees' most exciting cuvees - this is the Coteaux Bourguignons Mon Poulain in the style of a Passetoutgrain!
Let's go!
PS. Thank you to Kher Meng for sharing this, and big cheers to Big Wine Freaks for being the funnest, sexist wine bar in town for two straight years! Many more years to come!
Wine Review: Les Horees Coteaux Bourguignons Mon Poulain
75% Gamay (50% from Fleurie, 25% from Pommard), 25% Pinot Noir (Cote de Beaune).
Farmed biodynamically and organically, harvest is manual and done by Les Horees. The Gamay from Fleurie and the Pinot Noir is purchased fruit, whereas the Mon Poulain vineyard in Pommard is rented by Les Horees (previous vintages before 2021 was only Pommard Gamay and Cote de Beaune Pinot Noir). The Gamay is directly pressed whilst the rest is vinified whole cluster, all of which is vinified separately. Fermentation is spontaneous with native yeasts in stainless steel, which is then aged for 9-12 months in used French oak barrels, after which it is blended and bottled with minimal sulphur.
This is the 2024 vintage.
Tasting Notes
Colour: Deep Ruby
Aroma: It opens immediately meaty and saline, of salt brined ham, that's then accompanied by an evocative rusticity of leather, animal hide and freshly tilled soil, tinged with an umami savouriness of bouillon cubes. It's really vibrant, fresh and with great clarity, also showing such effortless restraint. This is then backed up by a base of tart red fruits of cherries, hawthorn with a splash of blackcurrants too. There's some green stems here that adds dimensionality. Really cohesive, plush and just moderately creamy.
Taste: Medium-bodied here, it's more creamy here, with a good richness and plushness, decidedly more fruit forward with tart hawthorns, cranberries, dark cherries, blackcurrants and some more chewy mulberries too. The acidity is bright and polished, almost shimmery, with the tannins equally sleek and refined. Delicate streaks of gamey meatiness of salted ham, with a light shade of rustic animal hide, along with garnishes of violet florals, rose petals and exotic cardamom spices. It shows good depth, with a slight textural chewiness and jammyness. Cusping it is a clear line of minerality of wet stone, slick clay and a wispy powderiness of the tannins trailing behind.
Finish: More herbaceous and chewy here, there's black licorice, dried rosemary, with then now equal portions of dark cherries, violet florals, animal hide and gamey meaty salinity that leads into this creamy and seamless finish. The salt cured game meats stay on, with more prominence from the rustic ends of animal hide, tilled soil with finally this long linger of cardamom.
My Thoughts
True to form Catharina's Les Horees is as impressive as its reputation that precedes it. This was a wine that felt thoroughly polished and so elegantly refined, effortlessly sleek and restrained, with nevertheless great development of its character that shows through with such clarity. It's uber fresh, vibrant and with this lively energy, yet at the same time poised and with stature. It immediately captivates with its aromatics and holds your attention with its really supple and textured body that shows such precise extraction - loads and yet never too much. In many ways it also feels minimalist, with just how much clarity it expresses, almost as if only what is necessary is there, and for what is there it's the best version of it - and at the same time completely cohesive and so compelling. What in particular really got me was nevertheless the beautifully exotic cardamom spices and slick clay that offered this alluring sense of mystique. That textural chew too was super delicious and engaging, with also that delicate wispiness of powdery tannins. Underscoring all of that is the shimmering acidity that is so brilliantly integrated and polished in. A most impressive wine that indeed lives up to the enthusiasm that its received.
Kanpai!
@111hotpot
