Domaine A. et P. de Villaine Rully 1er Cru Rabource AOC 2018

The wine house Domaine A. et P. de Villaine was created in 1971 by a married couple — Aubert and Pamela de Villaine. The letters A and P in the name mean nothing more than Aubert and Pamela. The Domaine is located in the small town of Bouzeron, lying on the gentle hills of Côte Chalonnaise in Burgundy. Bouzeron has rich, long-standing traditions of producing high-quality wines. Thus, this terroir was first highly valued back in the Middle Ages. In the 12th century, the Benedictine monks of Cluny Abbey laid vineyards in the vicinity of Bouzeron, the location of which remained unchanged for centuries. The grapes here grow on the slopes of the hills, thanks to which the vine receives maximum sun. The nutrient-poor limestone soils serve as a natural limiter of the volume of the harvest, and the warm microclimate of the valley contributes to the rapid ripening of the berries. Aubert de Villaine is the heir to the famous wine house Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (or DRC), whose wines are considered one of the best not only in France, but throughout the world. Aubert spent his youth in the USA, where he met his wife Pamela. At first, he studied literature and law, later working for a company that imported Burgundian wines. In 1971, Aubert returned to France to take over as co-owner and manager of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. Not wanting to live and work in the same place, Aubert and Pamela began looking for a quiet corner. This is how they ended up in the town of Bouzeron. Struck by the quality of the Aligoté grapes grown there, Aubert decided to settle in Bouzeron. At first, his holdings were very small — about 8 hectares. Aubert set about making wine from his own grapes. The remoteness of Bouzeron allowed Aubert to practice winemaking for his own pleasure, without worrying about maintaining an international reputation. The first vintage of the excellent wine was ready in 1973. Aubert de Villaine chose a path different from most Burgundian winemakers. He began growing the Aligoté grape variety, or rather "golden Aligoté" (Aligoté doré). The fact is that Burgundian winemakers, as a rule, treat Aligoté with disdain, considering it only suitable for cheap table wine. Quite popular in the past, Aligoté was later almost completely supplanted by Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The reason for this was the death of the vines from phylloxera in the mid-19th century, to which Aligoté proved to be extremely unstable. Impressed by the results achieved by de Villaine, neighboring farms became interested in this grape variety, and today Bouzeron is the only appellation in Burgundy that specializes exclusively in Aligoté Doré. Since the early 1980s, organic winemaking technologies began to be introduced at Domaine de Villaine. The author of this idea was Pamela — when caring for her garden, she always used only natural methods of plant care. As a result, in 1986, the de Villaine estate received the official status of "organic". The next stage in the history of Domaine de Villaine is connected with the New World. In 2000, Aubert de Villaine, together with Larry Hyde, Pamela's cousin, who manages Hyde Vineyard in California, opened the family enterprise HdV (Hyde de Villaine). Thus, at that time, Aubert was actively involved in the work of three wine houses. To relieve himself of some of the workload, he decided to hand over the post of manager of Domaine de Villaine to his nephew — Pierre de Benoît, who comes from a family of hereditary winemakers who own the Domaine du Nozay winery in Sancerre. Although Pierre spent his entire childhood among vineyards and wineries, he had no desire to pursue the family business. Instead, Pierre received a law degree and lived and worked in Paris for a long time. However, according to him, he was the son of a winemaker, and it was in his blood. Therefore, when Aubert asked him to head Domaine de Villaine in 2000, Pierre agreed. He significantly expanded the territory of the estate by buying plots in the neighboring villages of Rully and Mercurey. In addition to the main variety — Aligoté — Chardonnay and Pinot Noir began to be grown on the domaine's vineyards. Today, Pierre manages the wine house entrusted to him, remaining faithful to the traditions of high quality laid down by Aubert de Villaine.