Plot by plot, a Burgundy winemaking scion builds his defence against climate change

Some eyebrows were raised in Burgundy in April when Domaine Joseph Drouhin announced that it will be lowering its prices for its 2022 vintage — between five and 15 per cent, depending on the wine’s appellation — for all markets. It was an anomalous initiative in a region that is only too happy to feed high demand for its wines with even higher prices. Frederic Drouhin, president of the Beaune-based Domaine Joseph Drouhin, said the new pricing is part of his goal to make Burgundy wines more accessible to customers, especially after the small harvest of 2021 had led to soaring prices.

“Maybe my colleagues won’t be pleased with my pricing strategy,” he quipped, “but I think Burgundy prices have risen too much in recent years. Since we have a higher volume of wines for 2022, we should make our wines more affordable.”

The 56-year-old Drouhin — the fourth-generation member of the Drouhin wine business that was established in 1880 — has always shown a willingness to take the road less travelled, even before he took over the president’s role from his father, Robert, in 2003. After earning his MBA from the University of Harford in Connecticut in 1991, he took on an English-teaching stint at a BBC subsidiary in France before joining his family’s wine business in 1993. There wasn’t a marketing department at the company then as his father didn’t believe marketing could help sell wines, so he decided to set one up, focusing first on domestic markets.

Drouhin’s three older siblings look after other aspects of the family business: His oldest brother, Philippe, oversees winemaking; another brother, Laurent, assists in the sales and marketing department; and his sister, Veronique, is a winemaker at Domaine Drouhin Oregon, an estate in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, which the family purchased in 1987.

“It’s often surprising to others that as the youngest [of my siblings], I happen to be the president of the company,” he said. “But that’s possible because I have the trust of my brothers and sister. We want to bring the company forward in the same direction.”

DEALING WITH CLIMATE CHANGE

In 1944, during World War II, the Nazis moved into Burgundy. Drouhin’s grandfather, Maurice, was chased by the Gestapo. He managed to flee via his underground cellar and made his way to Hospices de Beaune, a charity hospital, where he was hidden by the sisters for six months. After the liberation of France, Maurice donated 2.5 hectares of Beaune Premier Cru plots to the hospice as gratitude for saving his life.

Today, the Drouhin family still maintains a close relationship with the Hospices de Beaune: It is a fervent supporter of the annual charity auction organised by the hospice, often purchasing many of the Beaune Premier Cru wines named after their late grandfather. The cellar door from which Maurice escaped is now named the Door of Freedom.

“Every generation of the Drouhin family has always faced a challenge. My great-grandfather Joseph Drouhin, who established the company, encountered phylloxera in 1880; my grandfather Maurice went through the two world wars; and my father had to deal with the financial crisis in the early 1970s,” said Drouhin. “For my generation, it’s climate change.”

The winemaking team has learned to adapt to hotter conditions in their vineyards. The leaf canopy of the vines has been adjusted to create some shadow between the rows as well as provide more shade for interior leaves and shoots. To mitigate compacting the soil, they now drive their tractors through every alternate row of vines. Legumes like peas and beans are also planted in the vineyards to enrich the soil.

But tinkering in the vineyard is just part of the solution. To better handle the vagaries of climate change, one needs to aim higher, literally. Last year, the maison purchased an 8.6-hectare estate in Saint-Romain in Burgundy’s Cote de Beaune. Saint-Romain is one of the villages with the highest elevations in the area: Its vineyards sit between 300m and 400m above sea level, and thus are a few degrees cooler than other villages in the area such as Beaune and Meursault — a future-proof benefit in today’s global warming context.

Drouhin said the clay-limestone soil in Saint-Romain also gives the wine a rustic “bitterness”. The Saint-Romain 2022 vintage will be the first wine produced under their ownership. Saint-Romain, said Drouhin, will be the next appellation to watch.

An instinct for identifying great vineyard sites seems to run in the Drouhin family. In 1921, Maurice purchased his first vineyard in Clos des Mouches, having recognised its terroir as the finest in Beaune. The acquisition allowed his family business to kickstart their ownership of vineyards and complement the negociant (one who buys grapes and wines from other growers) business established by his father, Joseph, in 1880.

Today, the wines from Clos des Mouches are widely recognised as the maison’s signature wines. The recently released 2021 vintage of Clos des Mouches Premier Cru Rouge marks the wine’s 100th anniversary: The Pinot Noir is fresh and very well-balanced, offering notes of raspberries, pepper, smoked meat, and soft tannins. (In Singapore, Domaine Joseph Drouhin’s wines are imported by wine distributor Monopole.)

In 2023, the family also acquired another property in Saint-Veran in Burgundy’s southern Maconnais region: Chateau de Chasselas, a longtime supplier of grapes for the maison’s Saint-Veran wine, had offered to sell their 7.5-hectare estate along with the eponymous 30-room chateau. The Drouhin family will work with a hospitality group to turn the historic chateau into a hotel so they can focus on the viticulture.

“Saint-Veran has always produced a good entry-level or village-level Burgundy. For customers who want to explore Burgundy, this is a perfect wine to start with,” said Drouhin. “With this acquisition in Saint-Veran, we can now better control the supply and pricing of the grapes, and provide better value for our customers.”With the two acquisitions, Domaine Joseph Drouhin now owns 100 hectares of vineyards across 60 different appellations in Burgundy, making it one of the largest estates in the region. All its vineyards have been biodynamically farmed since 1995, a practice that was preceded by organic viticulture in 1988.  

 “When you adopt biodynamic viticulture, you start to see life in the soil,” said Drouhin. “I believe that creates an environment where the vines can feel healthy and comfortable; they produce grapes that have good sugar and acidity, which will make a complex wine.”

Although the estate is certified organic, the certification logo isn’t displayed on its wine labels. Drouhin said the omission was a conscious decision because “you don’t need a logo on the label to show people we are organic”. “It’s a Drouhin wine, and I believe people trust our work,” he said.

“But my commercial staff have been asking me to put the logo on my labels,” he added. “We live in a world of certifications and logos today. So maybe one day, we might print it. But for now, if anyone asks if I have organic certification, I can prove it; I will show them the certificate.”