Domaine Labruyere
Domaine Labruyère is the oldest estate in Moulin-à-Vent, dating back to 1850. It consists of 14 hectares of vines, all in the Moulin-à-Vent appellation. Geographically, this is Beaujolais, but stylistically it has more in common with its illustrious neighbours, Burgundy to the north and the Rhône to the south. As winemaker Nadine
Gublin says, “I do not make Beaujolais. I make Moulin-à-Vent.”
History
In 1850, Jean-Marie Labruyère bought ten hectares of vines around Les Thorins, a hamlet in the Romanèche-Thorins commune of the Saône-et-Loire department. 150 years
later, the family acquired Le Clos du Moulin-à-Vent. It is the sole monopole in the region and lies beside the iconic windmill. This addition brought a fourth wine to the
domain’s line-up.
Edouard Labruyère, who grew up on the estate, is the seventh generation to run it. Edouard took over in 2008 and together with winemaker Nadine Gublin and
viticulturalist Michel Rovere has continued to shepherd a domaine which is both a Moulin-à-Vent superstar and a shining example of just what the Gamay grape is capable domaine which is both a Moulin-à-Vent superstar and a shining example of just what the Gamay grape is capable of
The Team
Edouard Labruyère was born in 1976 at the domaine.
Following a short period as a diplomat in Africa, he returned to the world of wine in 2003, working as a courtier in Bordeaux from 2003 until 2008. Edouard took
over the family’s wine interests in 2008, and in addition to Domaine Labruyère is now responsible for Domaine Jacques Prieur (Meursault), Château Rouget (Pomerol)
and the nascent Champagne Labruyère.
Nadine Gublin has been head winemaker at Domaine Labruyère since 1988. She is a recipient of the Winemaker of the Year award from the Revue de Vin de France, the only
French woman to have been so recognised. Nadine is also in charge of winemaking at the other Labruyère family properties and is a driving force behind the new
Champagne Labruyère.
Michel Rovere is Chef de Culture and Chef de Cave at Domaine
his life in Romanèche Thorins in the heart of Moulin-à-Vent. He joined 18 and has stayed with the family ever since.
The Vineyards
All vineyard work is done manually, with horses used for ploughing. Vines are spur-pruned and trained in the traditional gobelet style, which means cutting them
back almost to the vine-head during the winter (making the vine look a little like a goblet). The vines are short, restricting yields. This also means the grapes are low to the
ground, the reflected heat affording some protection from frost but the humidity bringing a risk of fungal disease.
There is no rush to harvest here, Michel Rovere being content to wait as long as it takes for sugar and phenolic maturity. Whilst the appellation permits 52 hectolitres per
hectare (hl/ha), Domaine Labruyère’s yields fall between 22 and 35 hl/ha.
Edouard is very clear that he runs the domaine with future generations in mind. Viticulture is ‘sustainable’, avoiding chemical treatments wherever possible, but without
being certified organic. Edouard notes that under this regime, both bunches and berries have become smaller, giving a greater ratio of grape skins to juice, and therefore more tannic structure. Added to the limited yields, the result is wines of heightened texture and concentration.
The Cellar
Hand-picked Gamay grapes arrive in the cellar for a double sorting, to ensure optimum quality. The grapes were historically 100% destemmed, but Edouard and
Nadine has lately added whole bunch fermentation to have lately added whole bunch fermentation to their repertoire, with Champ de Cour Cour having been 100%
whole bunch vinified since 2014. Le Clos has a deft 10% of whole bunches in 2015.
I suspect this past aversion to stems comes from a desire to stems comes from a desire to
distance the domaine from the method of carbonic maceration for which Beaujolais became infamous at the peak of the Beaujolais Nouveau fad. Whilst whole bunches
are used in carbonic maceration, this is where the similarity ends. Fermentation is temperature-controlled and the wines are matured in oak, with small amounts of new oak barrels – less than 5% for Coeur de Terroirs, a maximum of 10% for Champ de Cour and Le Carquelin. Le Clos is the only exclusively barrel-aged wine; its proportion of new oak varies with the vintage. The domaine has a growing number of 6600-litre-demi-muids (large oak vessels), with the second hand 228 litre pièces coming from Domaine Jacques Prieur in Burgundy. Winemaking is fairly reductive, with very limited racking employed. The wines are transferred to concrete vats pre-bottling.
Domaine Labruyère
310 rue des Thorins
71570 Romanèche-Thorins
Phone: +33 6 30 59 72 42
