Domaine Eric de Suremain, Monthelie 1er Cru AOC Sur la Velle

About Domaine Eric de Suremain

As much as it is a much over-used clich , there is no doubt that Eric is a real character and very much a hands-on man. Every year, after negotiating the tight squeeze through the gates of the splendid Ch teau de Month lie, we drive up to the front door confronted by a grinning, short-clad Eric de Suremain. He wears shorts come hell or high water, hail, wind or rain. You only have to observe his soil-encrusted hands to realize that he spends his entire life in the vineyard. The bio-dynamic viticultural methods set in place since 1996, some of the C te d Or s lowest yields (often on a par with Domaine Leroy), rigorous grape selection and a minimal intervention winemaking policy conspire to produce some of the purest, finest and most complex Burgundy available. Today, he and his wife, Dominique, work with just under six hectares in Month lie that village next door to Meursault and five hectares in Mercurey. Red wines are fermented in wooden tanks, often these days with the retention of some 30% stems, for a very classical maceration; whites are pressed directly and fermented in barrels after a brief settling. Elevage is comparatively protracted, with whites seeing some 15 months and reds seeing 18-20 months. The result is elegant reds that have a charmingly old-fashioned feel and evolve slowly in bottle and pure, precise whites with sneaky depth and persistence.