An archetypal Burgundian family estate, employing various family members, where the generational baton has relatively recently passed from the parents to the daughter and son. While brother Romain is responsible for the vineyards and winemaking (with his semi-retired father still visible on the tractor most days), sister Virginie Taupenot-Merme runs the office and commercial side of the family estate -with her Mother these days only coming-out to greet VIPs like us...! Domaine Taupenot-Merme was borne from the bringing together of 2 wine families (with roots going back 14 generations), Taupenot from St. Romain in the high slopes of the Côte de Beaune and Merme from Morey St. Denis, in the heart of the Côte de Nuits’ great reds. Madame Merme inherited numerous Grand & Premier Crus vineyards from her family, including parcels from the highly prestigious Clos des Lambrays and Charmes-Chambertin. Family legend has it that her husband courted her for her wonderful ‘charm’ (a play on words in French referring to the Charme of Charmes-Chambertin!). He also brought with him some lovely vineyards from the less well-known but picturesque villages of St. Romain and Auxey-Duresses. The feminine influence in this Domaine has certainly shaped the winemaking styles, as the wines have become more and more refined and balanced with each year, as the current generation has worked to exert its own interpretations and know-how, reaping the rewards from the biodynamic viticulture it switched to when the generational baton was handed to them.
A little-known fact is that Domaine Taupenot-Merme is the owner of 430 square meters of the famed Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru. Producing one solitary barrel a year from its tiny parcel (of which 3 bottles reach South Africa annually). Their ownership of this tiny corner of this prized vineyard also deprives neighbour Domaine du Clos des Lambrays of claiming a Monopole status for this ‘Cru’. The new owners of the latter Domaine (who also own Champagne Moët & Chandon, Cognac Hennessy, luggage Louis Vuitton, fashion house Christian Dior and countless other luxury brands), certainly are dying to snap-up the corner of Clos des Lambrays they don’t already own. But the Taupenot-Merme family say they will never sell their family jewels to this global conglomerate.
We invite you to sample a selection of the wines we were able to get our hands on for you.
