Domaine de la Folie Rully Clos St. Jacques Premier Cru Blanc 2020

This graceful 16th century estate sits on top of the Montagne de la Folie, a long, high ridge considered in ancient times to be the playground of fairies and goblins, and a place where mortals dare not tread. The estate has been in the care of the Noël-Bouton family for three centuries now. It has long been considered a leading producer in Rully.

The domaine is unique in the Rully appellation in that it is the northernmost in the AC and its 32 acres of vines are the highest in elevation. Moreover, all but one of these vineyards are monopoles (a fact that leaps out in the context of Burgundy). Lastly, unlike the main body of vineyards in the central part of Rully to the south, this northern end of the Montagne de la Folie sits on the same vein of limestone as the commune of Puligny-Montrachet, just over three miles away.

Immediately west of the domaine, the ridge’s flank falls steeply down to the village of Bouzeron, noted for Aligoté. To the east, the flank is a little more forgiving and it’s on this side that the domaine’s two premier cru chardonnay vineyards grow (it’s often said that virtually all of the world’s greatest vineyards face east). They overlook the old route to Cluny and a twelfth-century farmhouse that once provided shelter for pilgrims walking to Santiago to pay homage to Saint-Jacques de Compostelle, a.k.a. the Apostle Saint James. Folie’s top premier cru vineyard is named after him.

Jules Etienne-Marey, the great-grandfather of proprietor Jérôme Noël-Bouton, took advantage of the domaine’s hilltop perch to construct circular stone platforms in the 1890s on which to mount his revolving camera gun, a precursor to the motion picture camera. Those platforms still exist, suitable now for any mischievous little goblins that live in the pine forest that’s grown up around them. Marey was a professor at the College of France, and his contribution to society earned him a square and a statue in Beaune.

Befitting such history, the wines of Domaine de La Folie are decidedly classical in profile. Its whites always put fresh fruit and clear minerality front and center, while its reds showcase elegant fruit and structure rather than extraction. The domaine is also locally renowned for its well-made and aged Marc de Bourgogne.

Since the mid 1990s, the domaine has followed the principals of lutte raisonnée (reasoned fight) in its farming practices, plowing rather than spraying herbicides, forgoing the use of chemical fertilizers, and being conscientious in its applications of fungicides. Beginning in 2010, Jérôme's dynamic daughter Clémence joined the domaine in a full-time capacity to take over from him. With her came Baptist, her husband, who has embraced the cellar work whole-heartedly. Their involvement resulted in two key changes. First, they brought on a new consulting enologist, a hands-on woman who has persuaded them to extend their macerations, use less sulfur, and work more with lees. Second, later that same year they hired a new and very passionate viticulturalist. Nowadays, the vines are in excellent shape and their grapes are in superb hands both on the vine and in the cellar.