Scaling Different Heights

It can feel as if every Burgundy-lover has a story to tell about the first time they tasted Domaine Duroché, but perhaps that’s what happens when a producer’s reputation rises so high, so quickly.

Neal Martin – always an early adopter – first came across the wines, now amongst the most sought-after in Burgundy, at a blind tasting in Holland. On visiting the Gevrey-Chambertin domaine soon after, he was so impressed he began furiously writing up his notes, “in my car, before the following appointment,” he wrote on Vinous. In the Robb Report, collector and Liquid Icons co-founder Lewis Chester recollects his visceral “first taste” response: “I realised that I had to own them.”

But it’s Jason Haynes, founder of the superb Burgundy specialist Flint Wines, whose account articulates the giddying timeline of Duroché’s recent ascent.

Haynes first visited the estate in 2009, just over a century after it was founded by the great-great-grandfather of its current owner, Pierre Duroché. He isn’t sure what took him there but thinks he’d read a brief note by Clive Coates. The Duroché name was, still, almost completely unknown, “I don’t think Pierre had any importers anywhere, let alone the UK [at the time].”

Haynes was immediately taken by the “purity” of the wines and had to do “my best impression of a poker player” when he was handed the price list. “I felt like I was holding four aces.”

More than that, though, there was a quality in Pierre that caught his attention. “You can see by someone’s demeanour and emotional intelligence whether they have that something that sets them apart from 99% of other producers and Pierre did. He was humble, very much in his early days, but he still had a quiet confidence about him. There wasn’t much noise and bluster and I liked that.”

Pierre Duroché and his wife Marianne, who he met in a climbing gym in Beaune: “Completing the sequence of very difficult [climbing] routes has allowed me to always want to take on new challenges. I always want to do my best. We have the same approach for wine.”

Pierre Duroché had joined the estate nine years earlier, at which point his father, Gilles, was selling around two-thirds of the grapes, with wine from the remaining third going mostly to private clients. He took charge in 2005, continuing to work alongside his father until Gilles retired ten years later. Passionate about growing plants since he was young – “at the beginning, it was not about wine but just taking care of plants” – he was clearly doing a lot right. By his own admission, he was also distracted.

“Before 2012 my mind was clearly more on rock climbing.” A champion climber, Duroché represented France in several rock-climbing World Cups from 2004 to 2008.

It’s thanks to his love of the sport that he met his wife, Marianne, in a climbing gym in Beaune. Does his climbing experience and the mental techniques learnt in it flow into the way he makes wine? “Completing the sequence of very difficult routes has allowed me to always want to take on new challenges. I always want to do the best. We have the same approach for wine.”

The domaine now comprises thirteen plots of land. These encompass four Grands Crus, including 0.25ha of Chambertin Clos de Beze which, planted in 1920 has the oldest vines at the domaine. Also, four 1er Crus, plus a small plot in Chapelle Chambertin which is farmed in metayage (leased). As Burgundy fiends will know, land in such hallowed ground is counted to the last centimetre; the list of vineyard holdings he sends over is given in hectares and to four decimal places. Since 2017, there is also a small negociant business, Pierre and Marianne Duroché, that makes wine using grapes grown by selected partners, including Marianne’s parents.

The single most important change he has made at the domaine? “We attach much more importance to the precision of each work, whether in the vineyard or the winery.”

Pinot noir lovers are keenly waiting to find out the result of applying Duroché’s precision and Burgundian experience to Essex grapes. In partnership with the Bunker family, owners of the Danbury Ridge Wine Estate near Maldon, Duroché is making a small amount of wine from the 2025 harvest. “The idea is not to do something like in Burgundy. The grapes [in England] are mostly German clones and it’s a different spot. I don’t think I will do something better than Liam [Idzikowski, Danbury’s winemaker], I just want to do something a little bit different.” He’s been over multiple times (sometimes, I note, timing visits to coincide with Arsenal matches – he’s a big fan – but maybe that’s just worked out coincidentally) both before and after as well as during the harvest. Differences between the winemaking he’s using compared to traditional practice at Danbury Ridge include increased fermentation temperature, use of natural yeasts and less pigeage (punching down of the cap of skins and seeds that floats on the fermenting liquid). Is he happy with the wine so far? “2025 looks like it was a very ripe vintage for England so I think it was good to do it this year.” There’s currently no date set for release – that will happen in due course when everyone’s happy with the wine. And there’s going to be an almighty rush of people desperate to taste it when it does.

Victoria Moore is an acclaimed British wine writer and columnist for the Telegraph, known for her sharp palate and trenchant opinions. Author of the award-winning wine and food bible, the Wine Dine Dictionary, she blends deep expertise with cultural flair, shaping how modern audiences enjoy and talk about wine.

You can find her on Instagram page at how_to_drink