Vincent Dureuil crafts a cracking Bourgogne rouge. Traditionally, this Estate bottling derives from several parcels in the Côte de Nuits, principally in the communes of Prémeaux (0.5 hectares) and Puligny (0.34 hectares). The average age of the vines is now over 40 years, and the quality of the wine is everything you’d expect from this grower. A real bargain considering it could easily pass for village red.  

Dureuil’s village Rully is drawn from three organically managed plots—Le Meix Cadot, Rosey and Montagne de Remenot—which cover just under three hectares in total. The average age of these vines is now 50 years. The 2022 fermented with a pinch of whole bunch and matured for 12 months in one-third new oak. Janthial uses a Jayer-esque pre-ferment cold soak to extract the prettiest aromas and softer tannin. Touchstone Rully.

En Guesnes, or Ez Guesnes as it appears on the map, is a cracking little site tucked behind the Meix Cadot Premier Cru. It is pronounced as ‘On Gen.’ Dureuil has a little Chardonnay here, but it’s the hectare of 40-year-old Pinot Noir vines—bolstered by 0.3 hectares of 70-year-old vines—that make up the bulk of his holdings on the cool, clay/limestone soils. Ever outstanding, we always request an allocation of this wine but don’t always get one. This is Rully’s answer to Volnay. 

The 1er Chapitre sits in the heart of the village, surrounded by a stone wall, lower on the slope. Soils are mostly clay-based. Historically, this plot was cared for by monks attached to the Saint-Vincent cathedral (also the patron saint of winemakers), established in the fifth century. From vines planted in 1958, it’s a graceful and silky Rully from Dureuil this year.  

Less than three cases. We’ve been waiting an age to get our hands on Vincent Dureuil’s Nuits-St-Georges. This striking wine derives from just 0.4-hectatres of east-facing old vines (planted 1942) in the Clos des Argillières, right next to l’Arot’s Clos de l’Arlot. The soils are pink Premeaux marble overlain by 60cm of clay-rich soils (hence the name). It’s one of Dureuil’s more fine-boned Burgundy’s from 2022. 

This Domaine Bourgogne Blanc is drawn from a 0.4-hectare plot of 50-year-old vines in the lieu-dit of La Combe in Puligny-Montrachet, planted on silt, clay and limestone soils. Naturally fermented and raised with 20% new Chassin oak, the quality here is nothing short of terrific—it tastes like a baby-Puligny (as always). Just outstanding for the level.

The Estate’s exemplary village white is drawn from five organically managed plots: La Martelle, La Bergerie, En Guesnes, Chaponnière and the younger vines of Le Meix Cadot. The vines have an average age of 40-plus years, with the oldest approaching 100 years—a staggering figure for the region. Dureuil’s fastidiousness produces a super-intense, vibrant village white with a great deal more chalky tension and flesh than you should expect for the level. The wine is entirely vinified in barrel, with 20% new oak (Vincent mainly uses Chassin).

Maizières hails from a sunny lieu-dit situated east of the village, planted in 1997 to both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Dureuil organically farms two hectares here and, while the Pinot Noir was blended into the Rully Rouge, the Chardonnay fruit was bottled into this outstanding single-vineyard wine. The soils are lighter clay/limestone, but the wine itself is more generous than the Domaine’s village Rully. 

Le Meix Cadot is the largest of Rully’s Premiers Crus and sits on a mini plateau east of the village. Dureuil-Janthial controls 1.71 hectares (planted in 1980) in a chalky area of the climat. It’s enclosed by walls and perfect for Chardonnay. The name derives from meix, ‘farm’, and Cadot, a common surname in southern Burgundy. So, Cadot’s farm. Like most of Dureuil’s sites, the soils are clay/limestone and have long been worked organically. Satiny is a word often used to describe this wine, and despite its sunny location, it is never showy or opulent. Instead, it is a wine of tension, detail and finesse, with its fleshy palate flecked by citrus fruits and white flowers—Vincent Dureuil’s answer to Meursault Genevrières. This is simply a brilliant wine; it hard to find a Côte d’Or white that comes close to this for value.

Very limited. 15 bottles left. As one of Vincent Duruil’s top whites, we have been chasing an allocation of this great 1er Cru for years; the 2022 is our first bite of the cherry. This east-facing site is Rully;s southernmost 1er Cru. The vineyard’s white marls and oolithic limestone, combined with Dureuil’s old vines, planted in 1946, always deliver the most engaging combination of tension, flesh and backbone. Burgundy loves should buy first and ask questions later.