Domaine Launay Horiot

Since the 18th century, Launay-Horiot has been producing wine in the Côte d'Or and Côte de Nuits. Such an ancient history may sound like a fairy tale, but unfortunately, it wasn’t always so. Shortly before Raymond Launay (6th generation) passed away, it turned out that his daughter would not follow in his footsteps. Fortunately, his grandson Xavier Horiot became aware of the winery's wonderful history and was determined to carry on his grandfather's legacy. Eleven years and many lawsuits later, Xavier was able to call half of the vineyards his own.

At that time, Xavier had no experience at all as a winemaker. In fact, he was a fighter pilot in the French Air Force. That is why he chose, for the first few years, to just sell the grapes and to invest the proceeds in the company. In 2014, he released his first vintage, proudly featuring the new family crest. This crest symbolizes the journey from the air back to the roots. The wings represent his Air Force past, and the swords represent his legal victory.

The four hectares are spread over six different plots. Pommard is where the premier cru vineyards are: Les Rugien Bas, Les Perriès, Les Chaponnieres and Clos Blanc. The other two are located in Chambertin and these are the grand cru plots Gevrey-Chambertin and Latricieres Chambertin, where the vines grow next to those of none other than Lalou-Bize-Leroy. The work done to the vineyards is kept to the bare minimum. After the Pinot Noir bunches have been manually harvested, they are checked for quality one more time in the cellar. This is to make sure that only the best grapes are used. Each plot produces a single vineyard cuvée, they are fermented and bottled separately. After fermentation, the wines are aged in French oak barrels for a period of 12 to 16 months. The proportion of new oak varies per appellation and cuvée.

It may have been a battle to keep the domain in the family, but today Xavier's wines are very popular worldwide!