One of the essential factors that distinguishes Burgundy from other great wine areas of the world is the centrality of individual actors. The terroir of Bordeaux, for example, is largely about the soil and the vineyards. Château owners are frequently absentee owners whose impact on the wines may be quite attenuated. Not so Burgundy, where the terroir itself in is shaped significantly by the larger-than-life characters who have lived out their lives in the Côte d’Or and contributed their personal sagas to the richness of the Burgundian landscape.
Long before winemakers assumed their starring role as rock stars of Burgundy, the men who shaped the magical qualities of Burgundy were the négociants, the powerful men who bought fruit and must from farmers and then created and marketed their wines to appreciative connoisseurs around the world.
Poet, writer, politician, winemaker and bon vivant, Roland Thévenin was one of the most prominent Burgundians of the Twentieth Century. During a life that spanned nearly the entirety (1905-1990) of the century, he led one of the first great Merchant Houses (“Maisons”) to produce and market Burgundy for emerging markets throughout Europe, the United States and Japan. As a writer and poet, he wrote widely and influentially on the life of vines and vineyards. As a politician, he greatly affected the development of the INAO (National Standards Office for Wine) and its rules regarding Burgundy. As winemaker, he produced wines of the highest quality from once-humble villages, and promoted greater awareness of lesser known appellations.
Roland Thevénin was born in 1905 the grandson of Fernand Passerotte, Beaune winegrower and winemaker since the middle of the 19th Century. Thevénin opened his doors in 1932, just as Burgundy was emerging from the serial disasters of the past sixty years: war, pestilence (phylloxera), and economic depression. The appellations and classifications that were to revolutionize the wine business in Burgundy were just then being developed. In spite of his Bonapartist politics, the convivial and popular Thévenin was elected as mayor of Saint Romain for 35 years, and he is reputed to have been the life of nearly every party during that time. He was a founding member of the celebrated Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin. Late in his life, M. Thévenin acquired and moved into the Château de Puligny-Montrachet, where he scandalized the local population by uprooting a fruit orchard on Château grounds in order to create space for more of his beloved vines.
The legacy of Roland Thévenin is carried on today by the company that still bears his name and honors his vision. Working closely with Boisset’s La Famille des Grands Vins, Veritas Imports carefully selects and distinctive wines for the U.S. market that are true to their terroir. In the tradition of Roland Thévenin, special effort is made on behalf of lesser-known appellations that can be more accessible to the consumer. These wines come almost exclusively from grapes that are organically or biodynamically grown. The winemaking team is headed by Gregory Patriat.
