Dear TK,

We’ve been working over three years to get a chance to offer you the 2021 Douhairet-Porcheret Volnay Premier Cru En Champans. It took a long time, but it was well worth it.

Douhairet-Porcheret rose to fame under André Porcheret, the genius vigneron who wears an honor unique in the world: Lalou-Bize Leroy tapped him to be the original winemaker for Domaine Leroy, whose wines now fetch thousands—even tens of thousands—of dollars. And this 2021 Volnay Premier Cru En Champans, made by Porcheret’s granddaughter from precious vines in one of Volnay’s most prized plots, is simply stunning.

Produced from a mere acre and a half of vines on a top-tier Volnay Premier Cru, this wine boasts a nose that alone is worth the price of admission, showing a bounty of cherry and blackberry, adorned with red roses, licorice, truffle, and damp forest floor with tobacco and spice. The palate consists of seductive layers of deep red and black fruit, with dark spice and savory notes that linger over the extremely long finish.

Most of this wine—imported in a minuscule quantity by Martine’s Wines, one of the most esteemed importers of Burgundy in the US—is snapped up by Michelin-starred restaurants like Eleven Madison Park, SF’s Angler, and Napa’s La Toque. We are incredibly fortunate to have even a small share.

It’s just a matter of time before the price of Douhairet-Porcheret wines go the direction of Leroy. Right now, you can secure your share of this rare Burgundy for just $125.

Cataldina Lippo, André Porcheret’s granddaughter, studied at his side before taking over winemaking duties with her husband, Vincent Monfort, in 2004. Since then, the couple has infused the cellar with a new sense of dynamism. Burgundy Report once declared their lineup “the most impressive set of wines that I tasted from any new name.”

William Kelley of Wine Advocate goes deeper in his praise: "I've been visiting regularly for several years now, and I'm consistently impressed by the wines' progress: destemmed grapes, classical macerations and élevage with moderate percentages of new oak are the rudiments of what remains a fundamentally traditional approach, but under Cataldina's fastidious tenure, the wines have become purer and more elegant, improving year in, year out.”

The Vouvray En Champans comes from a 0.59-hectare parcel—the name “Champans” refers to a field with a slope—that faces east and southeast. The grapes are manually harvested from the stony red and brown soil, destemmed completely, then fermented for 12–20 days before spending 18 months in French oak barrels, just 10% of them new.

This is a beautiful Burgundy, and we’re lucky to have it. I hope you’ll get to experience it.

Sincerely,

Eduardo Dingler

VP of Wine

Wine Access

About Volnay