For quite a long time, Matt Kramer’s take on Drouhin was accepted fact- and while he did accord due praise to some of Drouhin’s great wines like Griotte and Beaune Clos des Mouches, I do think he underestimated the long term potential of the broader portfolio in the wake of just how well the wines show young.
That said- I think some of his comments were fair, if a bit harsh, and pricing in the marketplace then and now is an interesting exercise in the realities of supply and demand.
In his book “Making Sense of Burgundy”, Kramer claims that Drouhin makes a “second-rank” Montrachet.
If you are comparing the wine to the DRC or Ramonet versions, a case can be made for that if you want to get down to a ridiculous level of detail- and also throw personal preference out the window. Generally speaking, if you get down to the finest minutiae- DRC and Ramonet Montrachet usually offer subtleties that I do not find in Drouhin Montrachet. But that does not change the fact that Drouhin Montrachet is an incredibly fine wine and has- for me- been a jawdropping experience on more that on occasion.
Nor does it take into account personal preference. These are 3 very different wines- more different than one can imagine if a person has not tasted each of them a few times. If you were to take away the rarity and pricing issues associated with all 3 by serving them all blind from a single vintage, I think it is safe to say you would find fans and naysayers for each of them- with strong opinions all around. This is a good thing- if a wine cannot be so singular as to immeasurably move a handful of dedicated fans then it is not all that special to begin with.
One could be a deservedly respected connoissieur of Burgundy and say he prefers the Drouhin version to Ramonet or DRC. That is my benchmark for quality, and so I say that the Drouhin is top rank as are many of their other wines.
Consider too the realities of supply and demand here. Something interesting has happened since the 2005 vintage- Drouhin and Jadot Montrachet are now more expensive than the much rarer and more coveted Ramonet bottling- more expensive, that is, at release at fair retailer markup. Until 2008, Drouhin and Jadot Musigny were more expensive than Roumier under the same terms- though with 2009 that has changed as the Roumier version flirts with 4-figure territory.
There is a reason for this- at a certain point, supply becomes so small that it actually impacts demand negatively. You will find this very commonly in the gemstone world actually. Once something gets rare enough, it loses its prominence because too few people can afford it and so that segment of buyers who have more than the wine itself guiding their purchases will look elsewhere to do prestige buying.
Drouhin has always been underrated- but the pricing of today is driven more by a sufficient supply of the wines to attract the interest of a worldwide audience, and also by the major Domaines/Maisons having the cash flow from lower end wines to be more aggressive in their pricing up front.
Sadly Drouhin is no longer a good “value” at the top end- but if you like the wines more than other top burgundies you have access too, well worth the money.