Domaine Drouhin-Laroze traces its roots to 1850, when Jean-Baptiste Laroze began tending vines in Gevrey-Chambertin. His son Félix Laroze carried the estate forward, and in 1919 Félix's daughter Suzanne married Alexandre Drouhin, whose family held vineyards in neighboring Chambolle-Musigny. The union of the two holdings gave the estate its present name. Today the domaine is directed by Philippe Drouhin, who has run operations since 2001, with his children Nicolas and Caroline Drouhin representing the sixth generation to work the family's vines.
The estate is based in Gevrey-Chambertin and farms 11.5 hectares stretching from Vougeot in the south to Brochon in the north. More than 40 percent of the holdings sit within six Grand Crus: Musigny, Bonnes-Mares, Chambertin Clos de Bèze, Chapelle-Chambertin, Latricières-Chambertin, and Clos de Vougeot. Four Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Crus and seven village level wines from Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-Saint-Denis, and Chambolle-Musigny complete the range, all planted to Pinot Noir.
In the vineyard the family works, in its own words, with a fundamental concern for the land and the rhythm of the seasons: regular tillage between the rows, early cluster thinning, and thorough leaf removal to keep the fruit healthy through the growing season. Harvest is done entirely by hand, and the grapes are sorted before they reach the cellar.
Vinification is meticulous and traditional, built around cold soaks and a selective use of whole clusters, typically 20 to 30 percent depending on the vintage and the parcel, to lend structure without burying the fruit. The wines age for 18 months in two story vaulted cellars built in 1815, Grand Crus in new oak, Premier Crus in barrels that are half new, and village wines in once used barrels, before being bottled on site without fining or filtration unless a vintage requires it.
i.WINE currently carries four wines from Domaine Drouhin-Laroze: the Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2022, the Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru 2022, the Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru 2022, and the Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 2022.
