Domaine Gerard Doreau Monthelie Vieilles Vignes, Cote de Beaune, France 2021

Domaine Doreau is in Monthélie, a village in the Côte de Beaune sub-region of Burgundy, 30 miles southwest of Dijon in eastern France. The small estate has been passed down from father to son since the end of the 19th Century. It all began with Pierre Doreau who came to the region to help growers replant vines destroyed by phylloxera. At the same time, he acquired a few plots of land for himself.

Over the years, sons of sons, accompanied by their wives, have assumed control of the business. Today, Jérôme and Emilie Doreau manage the vineyard and the cellar. In 2019, the six-hectare organic estate obtained High Environmental Value certification (level 3), demonstrating their respect of the environment and commitment to sustainable viticulture.

Jerome Doreau’s very impressive Vielles Vignes Cuvee from 2021, a wine he says can age decades. Even so, its precocious loamy, raspberry-plum fruit and baking spice is already fully realized as well as its bright, fresh crunchy acidity and Monthelie’s always-beefy tannins.  This is, we thought, definitely the wine to drink with an earthy Provencal lamb dish with lots of garlic and rosemary or a platter of the season’s best roasted wild mushrooms, but a hunk of not-too-pungent blue veined cheese would be perfect too!