Francois Lamarche

Domaine François Lamarche

The Lamarche family established themselves in the tiny village of Vosne-Romanée (Côte d’Or – Burgundy) around 1740. They expanded their property and at the beginning of the 20th century, Henri Lamarche founded the estate. He already produced and sold his wines directly from the domaine.

In 1933 he married Aline Demur and as a “wedding present”, he inherited the vineyard of “La Grande Rue”. His son François took over the estate, when his father died in 1985. It was François in particular, who made all the efforts in getting the monopole “La Grande Rue” recognized as a Grand Cru in 1989 (and finally being promoted in 1992). 

The vineyard itself is just a narrow strip, about 50 meters wide, covering 1.65 Ha and situated just above “La Romanée” Grand Cru (which is the smallest Grand Cru of Burgundy). Unfortunately, François Lamarche died in a tractor incident near his family’s holiday home in 2013, but his daughter Nicole, his sister Geneviève and his niece Nathalie were already involved in the business and are running the domaine at the moment.

Domaine Lamarche produces 14 wines in total from 11.3 Ha of vineyards, including beautiful parcels in “Clos de Vougeot” Grand Cru (1.35 Ha), Echézeaux Grand Cru (1.32 Ha), Grands Echézeaux (0,30 Ha) and various plots of top 1er Crus in Vosne-Romanée, such as “Les Suchots” (0.58 Ha), “Les Chaumes” (0.56 Ha) and “Aux Malconsorts” (0.50 Ha).

All these wines are very much sought after, and the overall quality improves with every vintage. Great recent vintages in general and especially for “La Grande Rue” are: 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015.