france: burgundy
Domaine Vincent Dancer, Côte de Beaune
From his first vintage in 1995, Vincent Dancer exemplified Burgundy’s hard-working younger generation and its passion for wine. As a result, in 2003 he was profiled by both La Revue du Vin and Decanter, France and England's most serious wine magazines.
He prunes severely, harvests by hand, ferments with wild yeast, and racks only once. Like Coche-Dury and other top producers, Vincent doesn’t fine or filter his wine (he stopped systematic filtration with the ’04 vintage). He moved from lutte raisonnée to completely organic in the vineyards in 2006. He’s careful with his use of new oak, racking his wines into tank after some 11 months in wood, and then bottling the premier crus around the turn of the new year. Indeed this modest man is careful about everything, as one senses immediately upon meeting him (or from viewing his photographs on his web site). His whites show great purity of fruit braced by minerality and often with a strong hint of lime. His reds are rich, dark, and spicy.
Vincent’s production is tiny. In his cellar he will point out his three barrels of Pommard Pezerolles or his six barrels of Chassagne La Romanée. His largest premier cru parcel is in La Romanée (one of the best vineyards in Chassagne) and it’s all of one acre. Arguably his best value is his citrus and mineral-laden Meursault Les Grands Charrons, where he has a half-acre plot planted in 1968. It grows on a steep slope next to the premier cru Les Gouttes d'Or.
He’s also a purist when it comes to respecting terroir. He bottles a white under the Tête du Clos name, and a red under the Grande Borne name. These are the names of their vineyards, but both of these Chassagne wines could legally be called Morgeot under a little known anomaly in the AC rules that gives 21 different vineyards the right to be labeled with the name of that larger and better known premier cru for marketing purposes. Vincent will have none of that.
He farms 11.68 acres (4.73 hectares) divided as follows: 4.44 acres (1ha 80 ares) in Pommard; 3.11 acres (1ha 26 ares) in Meursault; and 4.12 acres (1ha 67 ares) in Chassagne, including his precious parcel in Chevalier-Montrachet.
LES BLANCS- Chassagne-Montrachet: from two lieux-dits, Voillenots Dessus and Bergerie; vines planted in 1999 and 2001
- Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Tête du Clos: vines planted in 1954. This is the head of the Morgeot field, and the soil here is heavily limestone.
- Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Romanée: vines date from 1979. Vincent’s vines are protected from the north wind by trees, making this a warmer site which can give its wine exotic notes.
- Meursault Les Corbins (lieu-dit): located below the Volnay 1er Cru Santenots; .37 acre with vines planted in 1979. Soil is stony and on the heavy side.
- Meursault Les Grand Charrons (lieu-dit): vines date from 1968. The name means The Great Wagons: this steep vineyard overlooks what was once a main trading road where great wagons with huge teams of horses rolled. Soil here is finer than Corbins but without as much stone.
- Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières: vines date from 1963
- Bourgogne: vines planted in 1999 in Les Magnys, commune of Meursault
- Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru: .22 acre; planted in 1952
LES ROUGES
- Bourgogne Vieilles Vignes: .69 acre planted in 1950 in La Taupe, commune of Pommard
- Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Grande Borne (the great border): vines date from 1984 and border the commune of Santenay
- Beaune 1er Cru Montrevenots: vines planted in 1996 by Vincent himself
- Pommard Les Perrières (lieu-dit): vines date from 1953
- Pommard 1er Cru Les Pezerolles: vines planted in 1979 on the slope above Epenots
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