René Durand has an infectious sense of humour but is also an immensely talented wine-maker and a visit to his labyrinthine cellars cut into the Comblanchien rock (Comblanchien is renowned for its rose-coloured marble as well as its wines!) is always something we look forward to. This is the heartland of the Côte de Nuits Villages appellation (there are only 30-odd growers in the AOC) and the Durands’ villages wines see 15% new oak and are always of Nuits St. Georges quality, combining an open, flamboyant fruitiness with ripe, integrated tannins. The Aloxe-Corton is simply the best we have tasted, exhibiting a concentrated, rich cherry-scented personality whilst René Durand’s Corton Grand Cru le Rognet is one of the region’s iconic wines and is only available in tiny quantities. They are wines that warrant plenty of bottle-ageing to show at their most complex.

René is a notoriously difficult man to deal with as he believed in doing things at a pace to suit him rather than his commercial clients! However the wines are so good it is worth a hundred phone calls and faxes to get him to prepare an order!