CHarles Audoin
Cyril Audoin
marsannay
Côte de nuits - burgundy
story…
The Audoin family has been based in the Marsannay region farming vineyards and producing wine for five generations. The first three generations sold their wine production to négociants and to a lesser extent to cafés in Dijon. It was with the arrival of Charles Audoin in 1972 that the focus began to be on domaine bottling and expanding the vineyard holdings. In 1972 when Charles took the reins the domaine only had 2.5 hectares of vineyards, over the years he expanded that to 14 hectares.
Cyril, Charles’s son, took the reins in 2009 but Charles is still very active in the day to day operations, particularly in the vineyards. With the arrival of Cyril there has been an increased interest in the domaine and the level of quality that they are producing has never been better. Cyril chose to keep the domaine under his father’s name, he credits his father with bringing the most change and attention to the domaine.
Being located in Marsannay has historically put them at a disadvantage as far as market recognition, however on the flip side of that the wines have always represented excellent value when it comes to great wines from Burgundy. Marsannay was the last village to pick up appellation status, the rest of the Côte de Nuits gained their status in the 30’s, Marsannay was granted their village status in 1987. Part of this reasoning is because the village had always been known for their excellent rosé production, but due to having a focus on rosé it wasn’t taken as seriously as the villages that focused on red or white production. Driven by market demand the village’s focus has shifted in recent decades to be more red and white wine focused, which is great for overall recognition but according to Cyril it is at a cost. Most producers no longer produce a rosé, since the market demand for it is so low. The Audoin estate is one of the few that has kept up this historic tradition, while also ramping up their red and white production at the same time.
farming & Philosophy…
The domaine’s farming falls under sustainable-lutte raisonée but they farm almost exclusively with organic practices, but do not hold a certification. With the arrival of Cyril brought more focus on farming with the environment in mind when considering their practices. All harvesting is done by hand with selective sorting of the fruit.
The wines are made in a very traditional manner. The reds see a varying degree of whole cluster inclusion during ferments, rarely seeing more than 30% and in some years there is no stem inclusion. This is all dependent on the vintage and ripeness of the fruit and stems. Extractions are on the lighter side, keeping with the focus of allowing the fruit to show the elegance and grace of the domaine’s terroir. Elevage for all their wines is carried out in barrel, mostly neutral but with some varying degrees of new oak depending on the cuvée.
Vineyards…
Although the domaine owns and bottles a couple of wines from village level sites in both Gevrey-Chambertin & Fixin, the heart of the domaine lies in Marsannay. In Marsannay they produce seven different red bottlings, four whites and a rosé; as well an Aligoté.
Audoin produces several cuvée bottlings of both red and white Marsannay, he has a red that is a blend of his youngest vines as well as a bottlings of his oldest vines which is labeled “Cuvée Marie Ragonneau” named after his great grandmother, who continued the vineyard work after her husband died in World War I. Cyril wanted to honor her with this cuvée, stating that if it weren’t for her his family may not have a domaine and vineyards to work today.
Of those bottlings seven of Pinot and Chardonnays are from single sites, 3 whites and 4 reds.
Au Champ Salomon
one of the handful of vineyards sites that the village of Marsannay has submitted a formal request to be promoted to premier cru status | considered one of the best sites in this part of Marsannay, situated in the mid-slope | Audoin produces both a red and white single vineyard from this site
La Charme aux Prêtres
this site was renamed in the early 20th century to “Les Rosey” however several producers continue to use the original name, Audion is one of those producers | the site boasts a high proportion of limestone soils | Audoin bottles a single site Chardonnay from here
Clos de Roy
perhaps the most revered site in all of Marsannay, referred to as the ‘king’s vineyard’ which belonged to the monarch | the story goes that Louis XI actually pinched it from the Dukes of Burgundy who has been sited as owning the site since around 1238 | soils here are lightish red in color with some sand over hard Comblanchien limestone | Audoin bottles both a red and white from this famed site
Les Favières
a hillside vineyard that has notably little topsoil above its core of limestone soils | Audoin produces a single site Pinot from here
Les Longeroies
one of the larger sites in Marsannay, that actually is composed of two seperate vineyards | the upper vineyard is made up primarily of limestone slabs, while the lower site is composed of thick reddish marl | Audoin produces a single site Pinot from this vineyard
