Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Domiane Vincent Dureuil-Janthial (Rully) -- 2014s Tasted from Tank: Part I (Whites)

Rully has a number of good to excellent domaines (and there’s also a number of vigneronsoutside Rully and negociants that make excellent wine from Rully), but two estates stand out at the top for me – Jacqueson, which I wrote about last week, and this one, Domaine Vincent Dureuil-Janthial. Interestingly, the two domaines have somewhat contrasting styles, with Jacqueson’s wines generally being very attractive right from the bottle, and Dureuil-Janthial’s wines being more structured and made for the long haul (which is not meant to imply that Jacqueson’s wines do not age well). Over the years, I have appreciated the wines of this estate in restaurants and bought from stores, but this was the first time I was able to arrange a visit.


The estate consists of about 20 ha, 16 of which are in Rully, the rest in Mercurey, Puligny-Montrachet, and Nuits-Saint-Georges. All vineyards are certified organic and all harvesting is done by hand. The family’s history in Rully goes back to the fourteenth century. Vincent’s grandfather began bottling wine shortly after the Second World War.

White grapes are not crushed before pressing and they are given a long pressing, then put in stainless steel and cooled to 8ºC (46.4ºF) for clarification. 20% new wood is used, the wines spend one year in barrels and then before the next harvest, they are racked into stainless steel to await bottling six months later in February in accords with the moon.

For 2014, Vincent said that his quantities were normal. (Continue reading here.)