The Living, Breathing Wines of the Bret Brothers

 I recently had a opportunity to spend some time in Burgundy, where I had not been since 2018. It was a wonderful trip. Not only because Burgundy is lovely (it is) but because I spent the majority of my time meeting and tasting with producers whose cellars I had previously never seen. Not only was each visit delightful—the wines I tasted over the course of ten days were generally excellent—but the work being done at each domaine felt dynamic and exciting. I have been talking about the current sense of viticultural energy in Burgundy here in these emails for going on two years but to be immersed in it was a joy. My tasting with the Bret Brothers at Domaine de la Soufrandière is a perfect case in point.

The Mâconnais has generally been a hotbed of progressive grape-growing over the last twenty or so years, brimming with growers like Julien Guillot, Frantz Chagnoleau, Guillemot-Michel and Jean-Marie Chalande all making consistently excellent wines from vines farmed to incredibly high standards. Jean-Philippe and Jean-Guillaume Bret belong firmly in this camp. Based in the hamlet of Vinzelles, 'La Soufrandière' was purchased by their grandfather Jules in 1947 as a house with a single hectare of vines right above it. The brother spent their childhood summers here while first Jules set about building up the estate. However, the fruit was sold to the local co-operative until 2000, when the brothers had finished their studies and spent time working both in Burgundy and abroad - Jean-Guillaume at Verget, Chateau Lagardine and Newton, Jean-Philippe at Lafon, Verget, and Ridge. Today they farm just about ten hectares and purchase fruit from a further eight hectares

From the very beginning the Brets have been committed to rigorous organic and biodynamic farming. This was obvious during my recent visit, when Jean-Philippe greeted me and immediately led me up the hill above the house to show me the parcel that his grandfather started out with in 1947, Pouilly-Vinzelles 'Les Quarts.' It had a been a beautiful week of weather since I arrived and the vines and vineyard looked magnificent.

The Brets are incredibly conscientious when it comes to soil health and biodiversity. They maintain substantial green borders in all their vineyards (grass, trees or roses, depending on the parcel) and allow their cover crops between the rows to thrive. They have essentially eliminated tilling between the rows, preferring to mow periodically to create a mulch of hay and to occasionally turn the soil between each vine. Additionally, the idea of cover crop is not a one-size-fits-all. I saw rows filled with the usual clover, peas and radish that one often sees but in one piece of the vineyard they had sown wheat. I asked Jean-Philippe about this, as I hadn't seen anyone else planting it, and he replied that the parcel in question was especially vigorous and that wheat was competitive enough to create a natural check against that vigor. The vines are all pruned using the Guyot Poussard method, to maintain clear flow of sap and minimize pruning scar tissue.

All of this thought and care came through when it came time to taste the wines. The estate is divided into 'La Soufrandiere' (domaine grown and bottled wines) and 'Bret Brothers' (Negoce). But make no mistake, the purchased fruit is as meticulously farmed as any of their own; the list of growers they work with include some names mentioned above, and they are all friends as well as close colleagues. On this particular day, the wines I tasted were generally excellent. Tasting there is an incredible look into the breadth and diversity of Mâconnais terroir. There were some wines as tense as Chablis and others opulent in a way that recalls Meursault, with consistent precision across the range. I should say that the 2020 vintage in whites has gotten a great deal of good early press and if these are any indication then this advance praise will be well justified. The wines showed great delineation but also great drinkability—wines both for tomorrow and ten or fifteen years from now.

As we have often lamented, as the prices of Burgundy stretch further out of reach, wines like this become not just appealing but look like astonishing bargains. These are outstanding wines and any lover of great Chardonnay will happy to have them on the table or in the cellar. Buy any six bottles of these today and get the case discount of ten percent off!! PLEASE NOTE THESE WINES ARE IN PRE-ARRIVAL AND WILL BE AVAILABLE EARLY NEXT WEEK.

Sam Ehrlich