Domaine Dujac

Jacques Seysses is a cross between a youthful, knowledgeable and passionate for quality, and a traditional whose influence still suffuses the Cote. He has spent more than fourty years in Burgundy and built up a fine domaine and a reputation for winemaking. Arriving in Burgundy in 1966, he spent two years at Domaine de la Pousse d’Or in Volnay before buying the 4.5 ha Domaine Graillet in Morey-St-Denis. He continued to work with the family biscuit business in Paris until he felt that the wine sales can reasonably support him and his American wife Rosalind.

During that period, the original Domaine Graillet expanded by the addition of 0.69 ha in Echezeaux and 0.44 ha in Bonnes Mares. He further purchased land in Clos de la Roche in 1970, and then a joint purchase with Etienne de Montille, adding parcels in Chambertin, Romanee-St-Vivant and Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Malconsorts.

Now Jacques is in semi-retirement, handed much of the day-to-day running of the domaine to his eldest son Jeremy, who is helped by his wife Diana, a qualified oenologist, and his brother Alec. Important decisions are still made by the family as a whole and Jacques is very much involved.

There are now trials of biodynamics in selected parcels of the grand crus. Lilian Robin is in charge of the vineyards. No herbicides or insecticides have been used since 1986 and fungicides other than sulphur and copper sulphate have gradually phased out. Clones are being used less than the past. The vines are cordon de royat pruned to control the vigor, spacing out the vines to reduce yields. Throughout the year the vineyards are ploughed regularly at a shallow depth to preserve quality of soil structure.

To improve quality, there are now more pickers taking longer over each bunch to carefully weeding out green, pink and red berries, leaving only those black and fully ripe. His winemaking is coming from experience gleaned from observing what goes on, and talking to old winemakers in local tradition. But he certainly got a lot of influence from his days in Pousse d’Or, with the modern equipment and hygiene.

He also is unwilling to remove the stalks, believing that it adds complexity and enhances harmony by slowing down the fermentation process. In a poor year, a proportion of the bunches are destemmed but the aim is still to vinify as naturally as possible. Regular pigeage helps to increase extraction.

The minimal destemming is in contrast to the negociant cuvees that Jeremy has been making himself from bought-in grapes, to make softer and more approachable wines. His objective is different, with his negociant wines designed for early-drinking while Domaine Dujac are built to be at their best after ten to twenty years.

The Seysses family like to use a good percentage of new oak, with the premiers crus 60% and the grands crus 90-100%. They buy its own oak from forests in Allier and have it air-dried at Tonnellerie Remond for thirty months before use. The reason for new oak is not for the taste, but the long, slow oxygenation to young wine, reducing the need for sulphur and most importantly, to leach out tannins that bring stability to colour. Dujac casks also have the lightest toast possible. The attention to details makes vintages matter less than otherwise might. In some so-called lesser vintages Jacques still made notable successes.

Dujac wines tend to be lightish in colour, a limpid sort of crushed strawberry hue, with a fine, succulent nose of ripe Pinot. The flavours are equally seductive, sometimes lighter, sometimes richer, yet always complex, fine and silky.

The location of the vineyards also contributes to quality, with some of his premiers crus surrounded by grands crus and in good vintages could convincingly pass as one. Best of his premiers crus is the Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Malconsorts. For grands crus, Dujac has an impressive line-up. Its Echezeaux is planted north-south, giving a medium-bodied, elegant wine. The Clos de la Roche has more tannin but plenty of fruit, ages slowly but gracefully and always worthy of the wait. Similar but with more delicate and fine purity of fruit is the nearby Clos St-Denis. More opulent are the creamy, harmonious Charmes-Chambertin and impressive, full-bodied Bonnes Mares.

There are also three white wines. Two are very small production. Only three barrels of Bougogne Chardonnay and between ten to fifteen barrels of a Morey-St-Denis blanc. The third comes from 0.6 ha of white, chalky soil at the top of Morey-St-Denis 1er Cru Les Monts Luisants. Now new oak has a maximum of 20% and the practice of batonnage is sporadic if at all. The wines are fresher and more elegant.

I have recently tasted the 2004 vintage of the Clos St-Denis Grand Cru:

Vintage: 2004

Grape: 100% Pinot Noir

ABV: 13.5%                

Price: HK$1416

Tasting Date: 24 December 2011

Official website: www.dujac.com

Wineshark Score: 94

A very good quality Burgundy Grand Cru from Clos St-Denis, garnet colour, with fairly intense and developing aromas of raspberry, plum, earth, strawberry, prune, savory, mushroom, chocolate and oak. Medium in acidity with slightly lighter tannin but showing ripe and silky texture, the wine has a medium body with fairly intense flavors of cranberry, plum, strawberry, oak, cocoa, earth and mushroom. A long length accompanies. Highly complex on both nose and palate, the wine is smooth and well-balanced, with juiciness and acidity matching well to show finesse and elegant harmony. Ready to drink now but has potential for ageing for another 4-6 years.