Marquis d'Angerville

One of the most beautiful estates in the Côte de Beaune, it has about 12 hectares. The legacy left by the great and late Jacques d'Angerville is carried forward in the same authoritative, passionate and meticulous way by his son, Guillaume. The company's monopole, Clos des Ducs, is the reference point for the southern half of the Côte d'Or, and the Clos des Angles premier cru, Frémiets, Caillerets, Champans and Taillepieds show the complex diversity offered by the company. The philosophy of Angerville is intended to let the terroir speak, especially with delicate wines like those of Volnay, the use of new wood does not help, masking its character. The domaine is now completely converted into biodynamic, clear sign of how Guillame considers the work in the vineyard the most important part for the realization of its great wines.

In 1507, a royal officer, secretary of accounts, came to draw up an act of the state of the domain of Volnay. Thirty-eight Volnaysiens, called in testimony, described the domain abandoned by the Dukes of the House of Burgundy. The state states that "the King has a third party undivided vines seated Under Roiches these vines are 52 worked, that the total of the vineyards belonging to the King is 275 worked for the principal in Caillerets, Fremiet, Champagnes, 'Abalone and pruning feet'.

Under the same names, these wines still produce the most famous wines of Volnay, and the Clos des Ducs, formed of the old vines "Sitting Under Roiches" has an area of ​​2.15 hectares, or 52 worked.

The Domaine Marquis d'Angerville today is, almost exactly, that which is described in the state of the royal officer in 1507.

In 1804, the Baron du Mesnil, sub-prefect of Autun, acquires the Clos des Ducs, a property located in "Vollenay" in the Côte d'Or, in the heart of the Côte de Beaune.
Around the Clos des Ducs, the property gathered parcels of vines which, in the 12th century, were integrated into the famous vineyard of the Dukes of Burgundy (Taillepieds, Caillerets and Champans).

In the second half of the 19th century, the estate of Clos des Ducs is the property of Eugène du Mesnil, son of Baron du Mesnil, and grand-uncle of Sem, Marquis d'Angerville, who is the grandfather of the current owner.

When he died in 1888, Eugène du Mesnil, without direct heirs, bequeathed the Clos des Ducs to his nephew and godson, Sem, Marquis d'Angerville, then aged 15 years.
He took possession almost 20 years later, after the phylloxeric crisis that devastated the vineyard at the end of the 19th century. Sem, Marquis d'Angerville, a former student of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, devoted himself from 1906 to the restoration of this historic vineyard and its reencation of fine pinot noir plants.

Ardent defender of "authentic wine", the Marquis d'Angerville quickly opposes some merchants of Beaune, whose practices of the time were not as irreproachable as today. He is then forced to seek other outlets for his wines, because the trade does not buy him his harvest. He will be one of the first, by necessity, to put his production in bottles to the property and sell directly the fruit of his work. He developed at that time a business with the United States. His constant quest for quality and authenticity naturally push him to participate as a founding member, particularly alongside Baron Leroy, in the creation of the National Institute of Appellations of Origin, INAO.

When Sem d'Angerville died in 1952, his son Jacques took over the estate. As passionate about quality as his father, he will build the reputation of Domaine, tireless ambassador of the village of Volnay and his own wines. Very involved in the professional bodies of Burgundy, Jacques d'Angerville is appointed president of the Interprofessional Committee of Burgundy Wines (predecessor organization of the BIVB) between 1979 and 1981, then again between 1983 and 1985. He participated in the creation of the University Institute of Vine and Wine in Dijon, of which he is the first President (1993). Welcomed at the Académie du Vin de France in the 60s, he will be President from 1982 to 1987, then Honorary President. Jacques d'Angerville was also a founding member of the International Wine Academy.

Jacques d'Angerville died prematurely in July 2003, after a lifetime dedicated to Burgundy and the great wines of Volnay.
Qualified in the Bettane & Desseauve guide of "major Burgundian producer of the twentieth century", he has vinified 52 grape harvests and largely contributed to the great development of Burgundy since the 60s. He left behind a magnificently held estate, reference wines and a true philosophy of the great wines of Burgundy.

When he disappeared, the Angerville family wanted to preserve the integrity of the estate. Guillaume d'Angerville took over the estate in 2003, in line with his father and grandfather. He is supported by his brother-in-law, Renaud de Villette, agronomist, who worked alongside Jacques d'Angerville for fifteen years. The Domaine remains family-friendly, and the know-how of the lost generations is transmitted in continuity.