Domaine Taupenot-Merme

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In the safe hands of our dear friend Romain Taupenot, this Morey-Saint-Denis domaine has become one of the leading lights of the Côte de Nuits. The family has been making wine since the 17th century, with the domaine as it exists today established in 1963, when Jean Taupenot married Denise Merme, bringing together two family estates from opposite ends of the Côte d'Or. Today, ninth-generation siblings Romain and Virginie run the estate, with Romain overseeing the winemaking.

We've been fortunate enough to taste Romain's wines at our En Primeur tastings over the years, and the reaction has been pretty consistent: emphatic WOW. It's been a pleasure to share them with Club Members at various tastings, and the quality is consistently impressive, from the village wines right through to the Grand Crus.

The Wine

The estate farms around 20 hectares across the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune, producing wines from more than 20 appellations. Its holdings include Charmes-Chambertin, Mazoyères-Chambertin, Corton and a small parcel of Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru, alongside Premier Crus in Morey-Saint-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny and Nuits-Saint-Georges.

Much of Romain's fruit comes from relatively high-altitude vineyard sites in Morey-Saint-Denis and Gevrey-Chambertin. These cooler positions help retain acidity and freshness while still allowing the grapes to reach good levels of ripeness and concentration. Interestingly, Romain uses no whole bunches in his fermentations, relying instead on the quality of the fruit and gentle extraction to achieve the freshness and definition that have impressed critics including Jasper Morris and Neal Martin.

The family has farmed organically since 2001. Grapes are hand-harvested and fully destemmed, with a period of cold maceration before fermentation using indigenous yeasts. New oak is used selectively, and the wines typically spend 12–14 months ageing in barrel before bottling.

The style is one of purity, freshness and finely judged structure. Romain's Pinot Noirs combine fragrant fruit, concentration and silky tannins with a mineral edge and real energy. These are wines that express their individual sites rather than relying on extraction or oak, and an estate we're always pleased to have in our Burgundy selection.

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