Treasures from a lost domaine

René Engel must have been a wonderful man. He studied wine-making before fighting in the trenches during the first world war, and spending some time in German captivity. He then went home to run — and improve — the family domaine in Vosne-Romanée. In those days, most Burgundian growers still thought of themselves as farmers who made wine. Few aspired to the glamour enjoyed by their counterparts in Bordeaux. Their viniculture was instinctive, traditional — and sometimes improvised.

Pinot Noir is not an easy grape. Left to itself, especially if there is a poor summer, it can produce a thin liquid. So the Burgundians occasionally helped it along. Those wonderful blackberry-coloured Burgundies bottled by Avery’s and beloved by Bron Waugh: it is unlikely that they were all pure Pinot. Then came the EU. We Brits fondly — sometimes self-pityingly — believe that the UK is the only country which enforces EU law.