Domaine Parent - A Historic Burgundy Domaine Everyone Can Enjoy
The Burgundies of Domaine Parent have long been a favorite of mine. They are featured well on the best wine lists in Champagne, and I have drunk them many times there with dishes like pigeon en croute, which goes perfectly with the “blood making Beaune” style of Parent. In 2015, I had the opportunity to meet Anne Parent on a trip to Burgundy with Alex Pross and Trey Beffa. I have to admit to feeling a little starstruck.
This historic domain has a long history and was some of the first Burgundy to be shipped to the new United States of America, in fact, Etienne Parent sold wine to Thomas Jefferson in 1787. In the early 1950s, the domaine became one of the very first growers to sell their entire production in bottle. Anne Parent, the 12th generation in charge of this great domain, brought them back to organic viticulture, which they were certified for by Demeter in 2013.
Last Tuesday, Alex poured a couple of the Domaine Parent 2017 wines in our staff tasting. I was very impressed with them, and just to make sure it wasn’t great memories from Burgundy and Champagne influencing my opinion, I bought them both and took them home to have with food. Now, we will be going back to buy cases of each, and perhaps a few more from the range to try.
On Wednesday night, Cinnamon prepared chicken thighs with a ginger, soy and brown sugar sauce, served over rice with bok choy. I opened the 2017 Domaine Anne Parent Bourgogne Rouge to go with it. This wine is made from three plots, one 15 years old, one 25, and one 37 and sees a year of elevage before bottling. I was working late, so this only had 15 minutes in the decanter before dinner. Right away, this crunchy style of Pinot Noir was wonderful with the food, but over the course of the evening, this wine developed a very nice texture that one doesn’t expect in regular Bourgogne. The best of wines can be two things at once—and this Bourgogne is both crunchy and refreshing and deep and textural. The complexity is in the bottle here and came out after about an hour in the decanter. We will be drinking our case between now and 2027, but I think it would last and potentially develop even longer. I have to be realistic about how long I can keep my hands off of a wine that is already showing so well!
Sunday dinner is one of the highlights of the week for us, and we almost always roast a chicken, always trying to perfect our technique, and always pairing it with Burgundy. The 2017 Domaine Anne Parent Ladoix 1er Cru "La Corvee" from last night was a great combination with our bird. This comes from one plot of 42-year-old vines and sees 14 months of elevage in 1/3 new oak. Learning from my last mistake, I decanted this bottle as soon as the chicken went in the oven, about one hour ahead. After our first sip of this Ladoix, Cinnamon said that it had the “dark fruit that is usually out of our price range”. It is true- this is full bodied Burgundy had plenty of dark cherry fruit, along with some new leather hints and beet like authority. The oak is very well integrated, and I did not pick up any vanilla or barrel spice. This is ripe Burgundy, but it has plenty of acidity to refresh and conserve the wine over many years. The powerful finish was very impressive, and the wine punches over its weight. We will try and save the last bottle of our case for 2034… We’ll see how that goes. Once again, this is tasting very good right now!
A toast to you!
Gary Westby