Remoissenet

Remoissenet Père et Fils, is an old and established name that is slowly and quietly carving out a new name for itself – as a producer of good reds!

Founded in 1877, this unusual and interesting company was run for about 30 years by Roland Remoissenet from a stunning 14th century building in Beaune – externally there is not much to see, but on the inside it’s very special. Roland Remoissenet’s last 10 years at the helm were hardly the zenith of quality wine production, so in 2005 when, at the age of 75 he decided to retire, the company was sold to the New York financiers and developers Edward and Howard Milstein, together with Maison Louis Jadot and Toronto-based Halpern Enterprises. It was expected that the change should herald an improvement! It was reported that the Milsteins took the majority shareholding on a total sale price of around €10m. Included in the sale, was the firm, its vineyards and cellars – and what cellars – it was reported that over a million bottles of Burgundy from 1950 to 1990 were included. If so, the purchase price was rather cheap – that’s only 10 Euros per bottle!

Remoissenet Today
Apparently Roland Remoissenet was a dashing figure with quite a personality – by all accounts a hard act to follow – the new face of Remoissenet today is Bérnard Repolt. Bérnard, who was previously president of Louis Jadot is an engaging and witty character to spend time with and provides all the anecdotes that you can never print, I think he is probably a more than adequate replacement for Roland! Bérnard is responsible for well over 200,000 bottles per year of production – and of course those cellars.
The content of the cellars is impressive, but it’s not all diamonds; amongst the old Richebourgs and bottles of Roumier Bonnes-Mares and de Vogüé Musigny bottled by Remoissenet there are even interesting large-format bottles of 1978 bourgogne, but you might also find walls of 1992 Santenay which I assume is a little more difficult to place! There has been some criticism of older wines for their apparent youth and inferences that the bottles are not 100% pinot noir. Bérnard is very open when discussing this point, and although he was never part of the team that either made or procured the wines, he makes two simple points:

1. The wines are what they are, and reflect the era in which they were produced – but no-one around today could tell you anything about what was put into the bottles.

2. The important fact to consider for those that claim the wines ‘too young to be believed’ is that the wines have only ever rested in one place since they were made – storage has been impeccable.

This market for older wines is very different to that of their normal annual production; bottles are mainly purchased by enthusiasts rather than merchants, but Bérnard reports the trade is interesting and that he is comfortable with selling around 3-4% of these reserves per year. I have heard from various sources that the wines vary from amazing to so-so, but clearly even if the contents are only ‘interesting’, a large part of the experience comes from thinking about what was happening in the world when those grapes were harvested in 1959 for instance…
The amount of wine sold by Remoissenet is out of all proportion to their sales of older bottles and their vineyard holdings, which amount to just about 2.5 hectares of Beaune 1er crus, including Marconnets, Bressandes and Grèves. Volume is augmented by significant négoce purchases, but also Remoissenet exploit the Lanvin family holdings in the Côte de Nuits and represent Baron Thénard for the majority of their Montrachet and other holdings. Thénard are one of the largest owners of Montrachet, so you could almost call Bérnard Repolt Mr Montrachet!

See other places in the Burgundy region.