2019 Auxey Duresses Blanc - Les Crais

Domaine de Chassorney was founded by Frédéric Cossard in 1996, and through a quarter of a century he has established himself as an absolute pioneer in Burgundy.

However, since none of Fred’s children are in the wine trade, he had been looking for a long-term solution to ensure that the vineyards and the domaine could continue in the same spirit. At the end of 2018, things fell into place when Fred began a collaboration with Aurélien Verdet, who has been a friend of the domaine for many years. Aurélien already runs his family’s vineyard in Arcenant in the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits and is the son of Alain Verdet, who planted his first vineyards in 1971 and must be considered one of the pioneers of organic viticulture in Burgundy.

The 2019-2021 vintages were still vinified by Fred Cossard in his cellar in Saint Romain with Aurélien by his side meaning that Fred has spent almost four years teaching Aurélien all his vinification techniques. But from the 2022 vintage, Aurélien has been in charge and has vinified all the wines from Domaine de Chassorney in his own cellar in Arcenant.

Thus, the vineyards, the appellations and the domaine name live on, and Aurélien continues the uncompromising vineyard work that also characterizes his family domaine. In the cellar, he carries on the same basic vinification principles, including 100% whole bunch fermentation and relatively long macerations with gentle extraction, but with Aurélien at the helm, you also sense the contours of a slightly more classic Burgundy expression.

Meanwhile, Fred continues to make his négociant wines as we know them under his own name in his cellar in Saint Romain.