These Vines have seen it all -- Since 1878
After my visit to Domaine de la Paroisse last year, I was simultaneously thrilled and carrying a little nagging worry in the back of my mind. I had just placed a healthy order for the sunny and abundant 2023 vintage — but Jean-Claude had also warned me that the 2024s would be meager in quantity. We’d have to wait and see what was available for us.
Vignerons know in their bones that they cannot control the weather, and thus, cannot control the outcome of the vintage. 2024 was a historically devastating vintage for wine regions across Europe — losses that spanned from bad to worse, and in some cases, farmers were left with nothing at all.
Jean-Claude was spared the worst of it. He remained able to make wine in 2024, and what he made is every bit as compelling as anything he’s ever made, but the quantities are sobering. Of the 1878 — his most singular and compelling wine — we were able to secure just 7 cases from the vintage. Eighty-four bottles, total. And we feel enormously lucky to have them.
The vines producing this wine have been in the ground for nearly a century and a half — the result of a replanting that followed another farming disaster; the phylloxera catastrophe. Jean-Claude is just the latest generation in a long line of the Chaucesse family to steward what they inherited — taking the long view that winegrowing demands. And like Jean-Claude, these vines don’t panic in a difficult vintage, but draw from their deep roots reserves of depth and complexity that younger vines simply don't have. While 2024 was a hard vintage, these vines have seen it all before. They kept producing, as they always do.
Domaine de la Paroisse
‘1878’ 2024
Old vineyards are a living museum, and Domaine de la Paroisse hosts an unparalleled exhibit: 148-year-old Gamay vines, planted immediately following the phylloxera epidemic by Jean-Claude's great-great-grandfather. Hunkering close to the ground, eight branches stemming from each ancient trunk, producing just a dozen perfect clusters each year. Jean-Claude believes these may be the oldest grafted vines in France. For nearly a century and a half, through abundant years and trying ones, they have only grown more complex and balanced — the 2024 being no exception.
La Paroisse produces just a few thousand bottles of this wine every vintage, with 2024 seeing a severe reduction in that number. Jean-Claude knows to set aside what he can spare for us each year, so we can share it with you.
The 2024 delivers the balance, poise, and pure concentrated Gamay fruit that defines this cuvée. Beautiful dark fruit of plum and black cherry, a hint of baking spice on the nose. The mid-palate is juicy and bright, the finish mineral and lasting. In a word, this wine is complete.
We feel privileged every year to import this wine and share it with you. In a vintage like 2024, that feeling runs a little deeper than usual.