Well to be specific the Clos Frantin, not Domaine du Clos Frantin.

I was chatting with a sommelier/importer from New York who was to visit Domaine d’Eugenie, and he mentioned that they were changing the name of the Clos Frantin to Clos Eugenie. I was a bit sceptical because you don’t easily change vineyard names and I also didn’t think that the parent company of Domaine du Clos Frantin (A.Bichot) would want to sell the vines. Anyway I asked a contact at Bichot…

It seems that when they bought the buildings to make their new winery, Latour/Eugenie did indeed acquire the Vosne-Romanée Clos Frantin vines too, however, swapping with Bichot the Frantin vines for some of the old Engel domaine vines in Vosne-Romanée Hautes Mazières – so both domaine’s villages Vosnes have a different recipe today.

Whilst Domaine du Clos Frantin’s Vosne had not been a monopole for many a year, given that it was blended with grapes from Vosne Damaudes in the Bichot era, I’m a little sad that this is now only a historical note; the only connection to the Clos Frantin domaine is the plaque to General Frantin on the external wall of Eugenie ‘compound’, Clos Frantin elevage long-since having moved to Nuits St.Georges.

Ah well, that’s progress – maybe there will be Clos d’Eugenie Monopole! I note that a building in the south-west corner of the Eugenie compound (Les Chaumes to the south and La Tâche to the west) is being converted into a ‘dwelling’, the planning signs outside bearing Mr Engerer’s name…