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Domaine Cassiopee

Domaine Cassiopee

I've been meaning to introduce you to Domaine Cassiopee.  Proudly, one of my favorite finds from Burgundy since Domaine Fornerol.  It's rare to find young vignerons like Hugo Mathurin and Talloulah Dubourg in the Burgundy zip code these days.  I forget how I stumbled upon them, I believe it was an independent burgundy tasters blog, but none of my industry friends or contacts had heard of them being that we are just seeing their first vintages released.  Lo and Behold, they are imported, of course, by one of the premier importers of Burgundy in NY, so I reached out, and was given just a few bottles of each wine to sell.  I was so excited that rather than just sell them all, i took a bottle of each home and drank each one with friends over the next few weeks.  The prices were also extremely fair for Burgundy, so I didn't feel like I was crazy and it was worth the investment to learn about this new Burgundian duo.  Taken back I was, the whites were textured and broad with underlying minerality, the rest were hauntingly aromatic with generosity governed by some tension, but with perfectly balanced fruit.  They were not just good, they were great, and you can feel the talent of these two as well as the pedigree of the vineyards in each sip.  This was no regular old pinot noir and chardonnay, they ooze with terroir and character.  I'm happy, but also so sad, because they're already hard to get, and now everyone else is gonna want them too.

Hugo Mathurin and Talloulah Dubourg started Cassiopee in 2020 by way of a winemaking experience and education from working with icons such as Benjamin Leroux and Jean Marc Roulot. They had a clear goal in mind, making small quantities of wines with a sense of place that they wanted to drink.  And did they meet their goal!  With temperatures rising in Burgundy, their mission was to purchase vines in cool climate areas, areas that potentially decades ago may not have been looked to for making wines of this quality.  They settled in the village of Sampigny-les-Maranges in the Maranges appellation, in the extreme south end of the Beane, where varied climates, soils, and landscapes mark the face of this appellation. They took over a tiny 5 hectare estate that included 5 small plots with varying terroirs--soils, expositions, altitudes and slope grades all varied.  Some plots have younger vines, some boast vines over a century old.  Some have limestone, some granite, and they are surrounded by forest.  They immediately got to work, converting to organics and working their land.  They are aiming to redefine what Maranges can be, and it is clear that they are already exceeding expectations and are clearly one of the face of the new generation of Burgundy winemakers.

I am really proud to introduce this new estate today.  You'll find the whites to be a bit different than what you may be expecting.  These are not the reductive PYCM type, or even your classic yellow fruited chardonnays with French oak.  They are broad, but mineral, some of the white wines see some time in amphora leading to a bit more oxidation, such as the Les Cotes.  There is no speakable oak present in the wines, although they do use a percentage for aging like everyone else.  They intervene very minimally in the cellar, with low sulfur, but the wines are not "natty" at all.  They are complex, charismatic, energetic, and just an absolute pleasure to drink.

So that I had enough wine to offer, I have been slowly collecting bottles since the spring, while also selling them off of the shelves to appreciative, interested customers.  We have some wine in stock not, and the rest arrive next week.  Even with all of that effort, we still have less than a case of each wine to offer.  But hey, we even have a few MAGNUMS coming!

Some wines in stock, more arriving next week.  10% discount on 6 or more bottles.

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