He says the past must be respected but Domaine des Lambrays’ Jacques Devauges is unafraid of change. Just don’t ask him to talk about barrel types or cold soak systems

Jacques Devauges has Burgundy in his blood. After studying oenology at the Université de Bourgogne he did a stint in Napa, then came home to work as assistant winemaker at Domaine de la Vougeraie, followed by Maison Frédéric Magnien and Domaine Michel Magnien. In 2011 he was made régisseur (winemaker-director) at Domaine de l'Arlot. He joined the great Morey St-Denis estate Domaine des Lambrays – owned by Bernard Arnault’s LVMH – in 2019 after four years at neighbouring Clos de Tart, which is part of the empire of Arnault’s rival François Pinault. He believes powerfully in the importance of respecting the past – ‘we have to understand the work of the generations before us’ – but that didn’t stop him from making sweeping changes at the domaine (where vineyards were first recorded in 1365), turning it biodynamic, dividing the 8.6 hectare clos into 11 parcels to be vinified and matured separately, and refurbishing the chai with 19 wooden fermentation tanks to accommodate the new parcellaire approach. ‘You don’t have to be a specialist to know that Domaine des Lambrays is special,’ he says.

We caught up with him at a major tasting of new and old vintages at London’s Claridge’s Hotel

Adam Lechmere
A few years ago you talked about the importance of building a team – how it needs to be both horizontal and vertical, that the team has to understand the past, and how all the previous winemakers at the domaine play a role in the present.

Jacques Devauges
That’s especially true in Burgundy: it’s important to have this link with the past. It doesn’t mean that we have to stick with all their practices, but it just means we understand the work of the generation before us – and that there will be many generations after us. In Burgundy, you have the accumulation of hundreds of years of viticulture in exactly the same location – this has to have an influence on the wine we make today. The knowledge of the potential of every plot is the result of hundreds of years of observation and accumulation of experience. If the grand crus today are only 1.3 per cent of the surface of Burgundy, it’s because generation after generation has noticed that the wine coming from those particular plots had distinctive characteristics.

AL
How does that influence the way you choose your team?

JD
Making wine is a team effort. To have people around you who are passionate about what they do, engage in the quality of the wine, and feel responsible for what they do. As for the day-to-day work, we have 10,000 vines per hectare, and they have to be nurtured all year round; it’s a process that is never finished. This is the horizontal part. And as the person in charge, you have to create an atmosphere so every member of the team feels part of the challenge and part of the success of the winery.

AL
How many specialists make up a team?

JD
We don't have specific tasks. Every member of the team does everything. The guys who prune the vines also do the racking, and they label the bottles at the end. Everybody is part of everything, which is maybe one of the keys things about getting the right spirit. People feel proud because as they put the last label on the bottle and put it in the wooden case they know the wine which is in the bottle because two and a half years before they pruned the vines.

AL
It’s very different to they way they do things in Bordeaux…

JD
You could write a book on that difference.

AL
You said you can’t simply stick with the old practices but at Domaine des Lambrays, you started a whole new system – how radical was that?

JD
It was pretty radical. You can’t come in and say, ‘Guys, what you used to do is bullshit, but things are going to change from now on.’ Every decision you take is in balance with a series of elements. If you change one little thing, you change the balance of the entire domaine. It's a bit like one of those mobiles babies have above their cot. If you touch one little part, the whole thing moves.

AL
What was the first major change?

JD
We converted the entire domaine to organic in the first year. I knew that I wanted to go fully biodynamic but it makes no sense if you can’t make organic farming work. So in 2020 we started biodynamic farming. It was a serious evolution for the domaine. So 2019 was the first year organic, and 2020 was the first year biodynamic. They were low crops: our neighbours had between minus 25% and 30% in volume. At des Lambrays we brought in 50 per cent less.

AL
That’s quite a loss.

JD
I was expecting it, and I also expected it to come back to a normal level of crop – there would be a positive result of those changes in the vineyard. And this is what has happened. But until it does, you’re never sure. And the best thing that could have happened was that my two vineyard managers, one who has 35 years experience, said they’d never seen the vines looking so healthy. And if I’d asked them if they’d like to go back to the old ways, spraying weedkiller, I’m sure they’d say no. [laughs]

AL
Tell me a little about the selection of parcels at des Lambrays, which is another change that you brought in.

JD
You don’t need to be a specialist to figure out that des Lambrays is special. If you took anyone into the vineyard they would see how different the plots are, whether you’re on the Clos St Denis side or the Clos de Tart side, the top of the slope or the bottom – the terroir, the atmosphere – there are differences you will maybe not be able to explain, but you’ll feel it because it's so obvious. 

AL
It feels like a little world in itself.

JD
Exactly. I’m not saying the other grands Crus are homogeneous, I'm just saying that des Lambrays has a level of diversity which is very important. So when I was walking this beautiful Clos, I wanted to know, how does this side taste compared to that? What are the characteristics of the lower slopes compared to the upper? And nobody could answer, because the winery had big tanks – it was just not adapted to making small cuvées.

So the first steps were to study the soils, so I knew what I had to work with, and to take into account the age of the vines, and the microclimates – and what is most important, the feeling I had for the vineyard.

AL
That’s the intangible part…

JD
You can be empirical: you can measure what kind of rock you have, the pH of your soil. But if you stay at the level of the analysis sheet, you make good wine but you don't make grand vin. You’re missing the emotion. So using analysis and my feeling for the vineyard I  delimited those 11 different plots. Then I used small tanks of 1,500 litres, up to 4000 litres to vinify those parcels.

AL
You’ve now had five vintages of the parcellaire selection. Have you found that your original idea of the best parcels has remained the same?

JD
That's a good question. From the beginning, I knew that my selection of parcels couldn’t change for at least a couple of years because if you change everything every year, you will understand nothing: you need some stability to understand better. Probably in a year or two, I may make some changes. You pay attention to your feelings, but you should be scientific when it’s necessary.

AL
You’re a scientist by background – when you were growing up did you tend towards the sciences?

JD
I loved biology. I feel comfortable with nature – being in the forest, hiking, hunting. If I wasn’t doing this job I’d be doing something in relation to nature. Or maybe architecture – my experience with the new building [at des Lambrays] makes me think architecture would be a fascinating profession. You work with so many different métiers [artisans] – and everyone is at the same level. A stonemason might have a problem which is solved by an electrician. I love this style of management – but I have to add that at the end of the day, you have to have someone in charge, someone who knows the direction you need to take. 

AL
We’ve talked about the science – your use of whole bunches, cold-soak maceration, oak – and you’ve said that you find technical talk very boring, like hearing someone play Mozart and asking them questions about annotation. 

JD
[laughs] When you have learnt the terroir as we have, there are more interesting things to discuss. What matters, what brings emotion, is an expression of the place, of the terroir. I can talk about cold soak, de-stemming, barrel types, whatever technical subject you choose, but technique should be at the service of terroir expression. If you have a glass of Burgundy and you say, ‘Ah, I smell whole bunches or cold maceration’ or whatever, that’s a pity, it's a mistake.

AL
Do you think, with all the technical advances, that winemakers are lucky to be working in 2024 rather than 1980 or 1960?

JD
Our generation is maybe lucky because we’re living in a golden age for Burgundy. Nowadays to harvest ripe grapes is not such a challenge. I also think rather than lucky, every generation has responsibilities. Our responsibility is to find the right answers to the question of climate change, and to find the right evolution of our practices. We have to observe and adapt ourselves to the observations we make.

AL
Adapt and survive. Thank you very much Jacques 

JD
Thank you for the nice discussion