Domaine Douhairet-Porcheret is a small domaine of 6.5 ha. Mademoiselle Armande Douhairet owned and ran the estate until her death in 2004. She bequeathed the property to her winemaker and great friend Andre Porcheret, former manager at Hospices de Beaune and Domaine Leroy. His granddaughter, Cataldina Lippo, and her partner now run the estate. Quietly, unhurriedly and without fuss, crafting wines of delicate presence.
A Burgundian’s Estate
This is very much a Burgundian’s Burgundy estate, owned and run by local people to their own taste and that of their neighbours. This statement might come across as trite, but Burgundy is festooned with wonderful producers who don’t court media attention or the points of critics and thus exist in a vernacular found only in French restaurants and bistros. More and more small wine importers are bringing in producers like Domaine Douhairet-Porcheret and our tables and wallets are all the better for it.
Unforced
Despite the differences in terroir, all the wines are bright and expressive.The estate has vineyards in Monthelie, Meursault, Pommard and Volnay and there is excellent vineyard and cru definition. Forceful wines these are not, with old and new wood used, 10% for the Bourgogne and 30% for the Grand crus. The wood is a means to an end, rather than a beacon for flavour.
Ethereal Burgundy
The whites are rich, round and soft. Succulent and bracing with a rare combination of succulent fruit and linear structure. The reds display pretty aromatics, wide poised palates and long, lacy unforced tannins. They are very fine indeed, with wonderful integration of elements upon release. They taste effortless, caressing and softly persistent. They are certainly powerful, to the extent that they will age for many years, but if gentle, sensual, ethereal Burgundy is your thing, you’ve come to the right address.
Domaine Douhairet-Porcheret Bourgogone Blanc 2020
One of the best value white Burgundy’s available in Australia. The strength of the 2020 vintage comes through strongly. Wafting aromatics and like a breeze in a garden in spring, white flowers. Yellow peach, nectarine, grilled nuts, wood spice and cream. Great width across the palate, affirming acidity and pithy citrus. Layered flavours and texturally complex, this is an absorbing and stimulating Bourgogne Blanc. Bargain.
Domaine Douhairet-Porcheret Monthelie Cuvee Miss Armande Vieilles Vignes Blanc 2020
Monthelie always reminds me of Meursault, a little gentler, more mellow, but also spicier and linear. You can feel as much as taste the old vines in the 2020 Cuvee Miss Armande. Deep and rich, but not full bodied, and again that width in the mouth. The round shape, so ample and generous, is tightened and sinewed by spicy oak, deftly done, about 10% new. Yellow fruits, spring jasmine, lavender, red cherry, red apple, hazelnuts, mushroom and cream. Sensual and gorgeous, a wealth of flavour, complexity and liveliness. Terrific integration of elements and a long finish with just a little but of chew. Beautiful drinking, without any need to wait, but I do think this will be very long lived.
Domaine Douhairet-Porcheret Rully Blanc 2020
Douhairet-Porcheret’s Rully Blanc 2020 has the signature gentleness, yet with a spring in its step. Bright and intense, tight, coiled and compact, with lemon, sunflower, white peach and Victoria plum. The wood tends to sit aside the fruit as it has its own natural rails of acidity, framing and driving. Piquant, smoking, spicy, some plump peach to offset the drive and energy of citrus. A classic Burgundy for lunch. So versatile when matching with food and company, I can’t imagine anyone not loving this.
Domaine Douhairet-Porcheret Monthelie 1er Cru Les Duresses Blanc 2020
Les Duresses is one of Monthelie’s greatest premier cru, straddling the border with Auxey-Duresses. It would be a brave taster who could articulate the differences! A high vineyard, full of limestone and, like Auxey-Duresses, shares similarities with Meursault. If I were to venture differences, Les Duresses is more high toned, and although generous, compact and linear in structure. There’s more wood here, smoke, brioche, apricot, blood orange, lime preserve, lemon and white flowers. Utterly absorbing, a wealth of flavour. Juicy and ample, chiseled, sinewy and with chew. There’s lots of structure here and if the Rully is for lunch, then this is for dinner. The greatness of the vintage is tasted with full effect. Bright, intense, broad, deep, with layers of detail, flavour and texture. Great white Burgundy at a ridiculous price.
Domaine Douhairet-Porcheret Meursault 1er Cru Les Santenots Blanc 2020
Les Santenots may be familiar to readers. The vineyard is on the border of Meursault and Volnay, and pinot noir planted here becomes Volnay Santenots as opposed to Meursault Santenots. The is the most generous, rich and textured wine of the domaine due to the clay, not limestone. From vines planted in 1929, in the hands of almost anyone else, this would be a behemoth. The wine is certainly rich and immensely powerful, yet poised, refined and controlled. Intensely aromatic, yellow peach, lime apricot, smoke, wood spice, jasmine, sunflowers, butter and honey soar from the glass. Unctuous and juicy, creamy, silky, brioche with wood spice and and tightening acidity. Mouth filling, rolling waves of flavour and texture, custard, fluffy, creamy, silky and chewy extract. Chardonnay doesn’t get any better than this beauty of sheer statuesque presence.
Domaine Douhairet-Porcheret Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru Blanc 2020
An unusual Grand cru site, with chardonnay and pinot noir planted. With a steep gradient (for Burgundy anyway), chardonnay is planted in the upper section, where the soil is limestone over marly clay and exposed to the elements. The boniest of all Grand Cru whites, high toned, intense, chiseled, yet round in shape, opulent and very long lived. Don’t be tempted to serve this too cold, and if possible – decant.
Intense and bright aromatics of green apple, white peach, white flowers, grapefruit, lime, salt, lemon, sage, juniper and thyme. Compact and coiled, chiseling intensity, but the subtlest of buffed edges. Plump orchard fruit, fresh and preserved citrus, herbs, smoke, and spice. Very savoury in character and tight, although the tightness loosens a little with time. We drank this over several hours, and although the drive and acidity never wavered, the fruit became a little darker, with mushroom, butter and honey creeping in. The most obviously structured, very classical and totally different from the other whites tasted. This will see out at least 20 years and more. For a Grand Cru Burgundy of such quality, this is an absolute bargain.
Domaine Douhairet-Porcheret Pommard 2019
Pommard is coming into its own of late, shaking off a reputation of square-some muscularity. This is muscular, make no doubt of it, yet refined, with a pelt of fine tannin. Hedge fruits, the fruits of an English summer, that funnily enough was a reminder of how good Pommard is with meaty pies and game. Flavoursome, smoky, mushrooms, Serrano, clove, aniseed, potpourri and that compote of hedge fruits. Deep and complex, plush and savoury, and although the fruit is ripe, this is all summer fruit; tangy. Over time, becoming wilder, and fans out across the palate rather than walking a straight line. Haunting, brooding, beguiling and refined, of a style that it’s not possible to find anywhere else in the world.
Domaine Douhairet-Porcheret Corton-Renardes Grand Cru 2019
The Grand Cru Corton-Renardes is located in Aloxe-Corton, and shares some of the structural and textural characteristics of the village wines of Aloxe. Always a challenge to describe, Renardes’ soils are a mix of clay and limestone, imparting depth and flesh and a fine, delicate, boney structure. Savoury and spicy notes of clove, tobacco leaf, mixed herbs, hedge fruits, leather and camphor. Medium bodied, ethereal and aristocratic, with a very complex array of flavour and texture. Savoury, tangy red fruits, blackberry, mulberry, gooseberry, pepper and aniseed. With time, gamey notes, autumnal leaves and a ferrous quality. Refined wildness, it’s so refined, but this is as much about tertiary notes as it is about the fruit. Lacy and delicate, the tannins complex and they firm up with a squeeze towards the close. If you can, wait, a half dozen years at least, and this will provide at least two decades of alluring, beguiling drinking.
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