Emmanuel Rouget

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Emmanuel Rouget, who originally trained as a tractor engineer, took his first winemaking steps in 1976 when his uncle, the iconic Henri Jayer whose daughters were not interested in winemaking, offered him a job working his vines. Jayer's nephew by marriage, the young Emmanuel was quickly enthused by the same quiet passion that had driven his world-famous uncle, gaining a comprehensive understanding of the processes and skills involved in making world-class Pinot Noir. Having adopted winemaking skills that were honed over decades across the vineyards of Cote d'Or from Henri Jayer, the domaine's practices in the vineyard and winery echo those of his revered uncle. Vineyard and cellar methods are streamlined towards one objective: To craft Pinot Noir that expresses a distinct sense of place.

This drive for precise terroir expression crosses all appellations, from Bourgogne to Grand Cru sites.

Like Henri, Emmanuel and his sons believe that exceptional wine begins in the vineyard. To this end, they cultivate low yields from carefully tended vines to ensure the production of top-quality fruit. Soil and vine health are promoted by organic farming techniques and eco-friendly methods of controlling weeds, like plowing.

To ensure only the finest berries are vinified, grapes are sorted twice, once in the vineyard and again in the cellar.

One of the important winery methods the Rougets carry out is "cold maceration". This ground-breaking technique pioneered by Henri, sees berries undergoing soaking at low temperatures for several days before fermentation. This not only prevents unwanted spontaneous fermentation, it encourages the teasing out of deep, bright, vivid color and pure fruit flavors that display the character of a particular locale and lay the foundation for complex wines.

A method that the family have also adopted from Henri is the uncompromising practice of grape cluster destemming. Domaine Emmanuel Rouget insists on this step, relying instead on tannic development to come from oak barrels during the maturation process.

At the start of fermentation, the domaine practices pumping over, preferring it as an extraction method to punching down because it encourages fewer tannins.

Wines ferment in concrete vats to preserve unique flavors without any oak influence. The proportion of new oak for aging varies according to the vineyard and vintage with wines like the Grand Crus and Premier Crus typically seeing 100% new oak while the Villages age in around half-new barrels. Bourgogne wines tend to be matured in one-year-old barrels. This careful choice of new oak proportion serves to match each wine with a suitable tannic level for the typical character of its vineyard's fruit.

Finally, wines are not filtered, a decision that promotes the natural terroir-expression and unique profiles of each vineyard.

Within a decade, Emmanuel had set up his own operation in Flagey, where he expanded the holdings he worked. As well as working alongside Henri in his vineyards, he sharecropped vines in Echézeaux and Vosne-Romanée owned by his other two uncles, Lucien and Georges, keeping half of the production for himself and turning over the remained to his extended family. Emmanuel didn't limit production to family vineyards: He also worked the vines of Michelin-starred chef, Jean Crottet, on a métayage basis.

From 1996, as Emmanuel's skills blossomed, Henri steadily transferred ownership of his vines, vineyard by vineyard, to Emmanuel. By 2001, when he retired, all his vines were under the control of his nephew.

Emmanuel has remained loyal to the viticultural and winemaking techniques that made his uncle's wines revered internationally. The domaine's range is highly rated and much sought after by connoisseurs worldwide.

Emmanuel's two sons, Nicolas and Guillaume, both learned the craft of winemaking while working from childhood alongside their father. Today, Nicolas, who officially joined the operation in 2008, manages the vineyards, while Guillaume, who also studied viticulture in Beaune, took over winery responsibilities in 2011 when he was only 19.