The Domaine Darviot-Perrin is highly respected by local growers and brokers as one of the most conscientious producers of the Cote de Beaune. Darviot Pere made a major contribution to the development of the straddling tractors, without which vineyard work would be much more strenuous and back-breaking.

Didier Darviot started working with his father-in-law, Monsieur Perrin, in the early 1990s, patiently watching the traditional methods and procedures that had established the Domaine�s high reputation.

Didier and his wife, Genevieve, who helps him in the vineyards, prune the vines severely to achieve the ripest possible grapes. Double buds and infertile shoots are removed in May and excess bunches thinned out in July, once the fruit has set.

In the cellar, vinification is meticulous. The reds ferment for 10 days, with the cap trodden down by foot, and ageing takes place in barriques of which 25 per cent are new oak. The results are beautiful wines of ripe, unadulterated fruit with a level of consistent quality rarely found in Burgundy.

Although based in Monthelie, the Domaine produces only a tiny amount of red wine under this appellation, for it owns much more exciting plots for white wines in Meursault and Chassagne-Montrachet. But it is the reds that take the palm here, especially the marvellously structured yet elegantly fruity Volnays which are impressively concentrated.