Domaine Parent
— About —
THE ESTATE
The Family Parent settled in Burgundy in 1640. After 5 generations in Volnay, Domaine Parent moved to the village of Pommard in 1803 under Claude Parent (1770 – 1842). In 1789 Etienne Parent formed personal and professional ties with none other than Thomas Jefferson, the future President of the United States pioneering the export of Burgundy wines across the Atlantic. In 1947, Jacques Parent, then 19 years old, began working with his father Maxime before taking over the management of the Domaine in 1953.
Since 1998 the Domaine is managed by Anne and Catherine Parent who took charge from their father Jacques (born in 1928), making them the 13th generation on the Domaine and for the first time in the family’s history, the first women to manage Domaine Parent. The Domaine was usually passed on from father to son until 1997 when their brother François married Ann-Françoise Gros and chose to be fully dedicated to the A-F Gros Domaine. Anne is in charge of the cellar and vineyards, while her sister Catherine looks mainly after the commercial and marketing aspects of the Domaine.
The Domaine has been certified Organic since 2013 and practises biodynamics. As Anne says “I practice biodynamics to protect the soil and the terroir, and for our health. It’s not a fashion, it’s a long term philosophy.”
THE VINEYARDS
The Domaine consists of approximately 10 hectares focused predominately on Pommard and its 1er Cru’s. Pommard as a village rejected Grand Cru status for Epenots (currently a 1er Cru) in 1936 when originally granted as a sign of unity by the village at the time, seen as being unfair to some who didn’t own vines in the Cru. Ann Parent has been at the forefront of the application to have this GC status re-instated. Domaine Parent have rows in both Petit and Grand Les Epenots which they carefully cultivate and vinify for their world renowned 1er Cru.
THE WINEMAKING
The red wines of Domaine Parent from the various appellations are produced with the same approach with the yields defined by each appellation’s regulation and the vintage’s conditions, ranging from 45 hl/ha to as low as 26 hl/ha for the Corton Grand Cru “Les Renardes”. Firstly most bunches are destemmed and pre-fermentation skin maceration will last 3 to 5 days to extract a little extra colour, flavours and tannins for the structure. All the reds are fermented in concrete vats which will last for 16 to 20 days depending on the wine’s appellation and the quality of the vintage, only indigenous yeasts are used. Depending on the wine and the vintage all the wines are aged in French oak barrels with 30% to 50% of new oak and barrels of 1 to 4 year old.