Domaine de la Folie Rully Blanc 1er Cru ‘Clos du Chaigne’ Monopole 2023

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Terroir: Clay-limestone
Exposure: East
Area: Monopoly of 1.69 ha
Average age of the vines: 80/90 years
Vineyard Work: Soil work, sustainable cultivation and manual harvests in small crates
Vinification – Aging: Low pressure pressing, meticulous settling, vinification without SO2 and aging in barrels (20% new barrels)
Conservation: 10 years depending on conditions and vintage
Tasting: between 12 and 14°C

About Domaine de la Folie

Clemence Dubrulle and her husband Baptiste are the fifth generation to manage the domaine, taking over from Clemence’s parents in 2010.

Unlike most Burgundian estates with vineyard holdings dotted across various appellations, Domaine de la Folie is unusual in that their 13 hectares of vines more or less surround the family house (which might easily be mistaken for a chateau thanks to its commanding position atop a hill overlooking the Saone). Even more unusually, half of its vineyards are monopoles. In the context of Burgundy, not sharing vineyards with other producers is extremely rare, but having three monopoles is almost unheard of.

“I begin to repeat myself, but Domaine de la Folie’s quiet renaissance continues, as subtle evolutions in red and white winemaking and increasing care in the vineyards make their effect felt more and more with every passing vintage.”

William Kelley, The Wine Advocate

These are splendid, intermittently brilliant wines that punch well above their weight. Classically styled, their whites seem to emit a bit of sunshine, even on an overcast October afternoon.”

Neal Martin, Vinous.com

In the Vineyard

Domaine de la Folie’s vineyards are the highest in elevation and it is the northernmost in the AC… significant because it sits on the same vein of limestone as the commune of Chassagne-Montrachet, just over five kilometres away…

Since the mid 1990s, the domaine has followed organic principles in its farming practices, ploughing rather than spraying herbicides and forgoing the use of chemical fertilisers.

Over the last few years, modifications in the architecture of pruning, the cultivation of cover crops and the timing of any spray treatments have all been enacted to improve the vineyards’ resistance to the ever-present Burgundian threats of frost and mildew. “Work in the vineyard is, and always has been, the most important thing”, says Clemence.

In the Winery

The 2023 Vintage at Domaine de la Folie

“It was a vintage for the winemaker,” Clémence Dubrulle tells me in a lively lunchtime tasting where we discuss the 2023 vintage, how Air’s classic 1998 album “Moon Safari” annoys, he kids, and a morsel of scandalous gossip I picked up earlier that week. Domaine de la Folie is a Rully estate that is quietly producing quite lovely whites and reds from their own vines surrounding the family maison. They began picking on September 9 in the Clos la Folie vineyard with 40 pickers. They did not conduct a green harvest and prefer to sort the fruit entering the winery. All the reds are destemmed in 2023. These wines are terrific value, which is why I often order these wines in Burgundy restaurants. 

Neal Martin, Vinous

Where in the World is Domaine de la Folie?

Technically closer to Bouzeron, yet within the Rully appellation, Domaine de la Folie is in Chagny in the Côte Chalonnaise.