This domaine is a favorite of ours because it flies just under the radar – it hides in plain sight - not as famous as some other growers, but their collection of vineyards such as Clos de Beze, Clos de la Roche, and Lavaux St. Jacques is as serious as it gets, and with many older vine parcels in each.  Gérard took over from his father Jean, and his daughter Marion now works alongside him and will take over the winery in a few years. The wines are soulful and can be describe as “Burgundy lover’s Burgundy” with delicate color and fruit that intermingles with the sense of earth in each sip. Harvest is done by hand, and grapes are fermented on indigenous yeasts in tank and then aged for some 18 months in mostly older French oak barrels.

Raphet has two parcels in the Clos. One with a a stone marker set on the vineyard’s down-slope wall. Another family parcel upslope, with older vines, is located in lieu-dit ‘Les Grand Maupertuis.’ Downslope soils are deeper, with more clay; upslope soils are thin, closer to the “mother rock” of Burgundian limestone.  Vines are all between 60 and 80 years. The old vines in good parcels of the Clos are a great testament to the quality of the sometimes maligned Grand Cru. The blending of the 2 parcels further highlights the strength of the vintage – producing a wine that resembles a tightrope walker with dumbbells – an extreme balancing act of fruit and power and one side, and elegance and typicity on the other. Aromas of earth, baking spices, red and black berries. Fine-grained tannins; structured yet suave.