Dublere being sold

Sad for me, hopefully happy for Blair. Really nice person and excellent winemaker. Very much enjoy his wines.

I know this is one of your favorites Howard. Do you think the new owners will be producing a significantly different wine?

I didn’t know anything about the producer and was intrigued to learn from the link that Blair Pethel was not a native Burgundian, and got his start there less than 2 decades ago. I (admittedly a Burgundy ignoramus) guess Ray Walker was not the first to do that.

It will be interesting to see if Schneiders brings in the Domaine des Terres de Velle wines. They were big boosters of Dublere. I’ve had both hits and misses with Dublere (thats burgundy i guess), but I will miss his savigny village wines. Good QPR.

Blair was super nice to us when we visited earlier this year, and I can only wish him the best. Seemed like a great person.

Blair made a wine back in 2008, a white called Les Millerands. I still remember drinking that wine, how it tasted and the impression it left upon me. I mention this because I probably have drank a thousand wines since that time and it’s one of the few that has that memory imprint for me. Wonderful stuff and I looked for it for many years after I had it and could never find more. Whatever happens to Blair, I wish him the best for making such a cool bottle of wine.

Why is it Americans don’t seem to have staying power in Burgundy? No wonder the Europeans are wary of us coming over to set up shop.

Blair made wine there for between 15 and 20 years and likely is in his sixties and could be ready to retire. What do you expect from him?

I don’t know anything about the new owners. Never heard of them until today.

Blair is from Greensboro, NC, and worked later in DC and in London (his wife is British) before moving to Burgundy. There are a number of Americans in Burgundy. Certainly one is Alex Gambal - and he went to UNC (unlike Blair who is a dook fan). Don’t the people who make Kalin also have a Burgundy operation now - although I don’t know the name of it. I think there are a number more.

Wine must have been really something for you to get past the Duke connection!

Thanks for the additional detail.

Well, he did not go there, he is just a fan. Believe it or not, I once brought him a dook cap when I visited there.

My friend Mark purchased Domaine Louis Boillot (not the spouse of Ghislaine Barthod) in 2010 and renamed it Domaine Clos de la Chapelle (named for the Volnay 1er Cru Monopole that came with the Domaine). He started with two Volnay 1ers and one Pommard 1er and now owns an additional two parcels of Corton and one of Corton Charlemagne, as well as several more slivers in Volnay, Pommard, Beaune and Pernand-Vergelesses.

Obviously I am biased, but the wines are outstanding, and hitting new heights in 15 and 16.

I am amazed by the lack of board interest in this man and his domaine. There have been pages and pages and pages on the illicit shenanigans of shyster Ray Walker – to which I contributed, to be fair – and in proportion, almost nothing on Blair Pethel, who for 15 years has gone quietly and modestly about his business trying to make the best wine he can. He has been the anti-Ray Walker. In fact, maybe I just put my finger on it: He was quiet. He told me that he hoped his wines spoke for themselves, but perhaps they haven’t, at least not loudly enough. I have been a great admirer of Blair Pethel, but perhaps the greatest vote of admiration has been from other Burgundian winesmakers, which whom he shares equipment and swaps grapes. People like Jean-Marc Pillot and Benjamin Leroux, not the least among the profession. I shall miss him. Thank goodness I have lots of Dublere in the cellar.

Jack, I completely agree with you about Blair. I have very much enjoyed talking with Blair every time I have met him (I have visited his winery three times, seen him in DC and have corresponded with him in Facebook). He is just a really nice person. And, a really smart person.

I cannot imagine his wines speaking for themselves “loudly.” They have always seemed to me to be wines made in the wrong time - they are wines for a time when elegance was valued more than size in wines. They are extremely elegant understated wines. I am not sure how well they would fare in a blind tasting of 20 wines, but for drinking by themselves with dinner, they are just perfect wines. And, at least in the US, they are about as good a value in Burgundy as one can find. I think my oldest wines from him only go back to around 2008, so the one thing I really don’t know for sure is what the reds taste like when fully mature. But, give me time, I will find out!!! Like you, I have lots of Dublere in the cellar.

Totally agree - probably why I’ve already drunk 1.5 cases out of the five I have bought. Delightful wines.

Howard (or anyone), what have been some of your more enjoyable bottles? I have two 2008 Charmes Chambertin that I bought on a recommendation but have not tried.

I think that Charmes Chambertin is good, not great. I have heard third hand that Blair bought the grapes Charmes Chambertin (did not own the vineyard) and eventually decided he did not like the farming done there and stopped buying the grapes. Someone else may know more details than I do. I bought some of the 2008 at a very, very good price and so I am happy I own it, but I would not say it is one of the best wines I own from him.

As with most producers, my favorite vintages from him for what I have tasted are 2010s for the reds and 2014 for the whites. I have generally found his MSD Blanchards and his Volnay Taillepieds to be his best wines, but I have found the Beaune Blanches Fleurs (try the 2010) and his Chorey les Beaune (try the 2015) to be really good values. His Bourgogne Blanc also is generally an excellent value.

Thanks, Howard.

Howard, apparently we weren’t the only ones to like Blair Pethel and his wines.

Thanks for the links.