Dom de l'Arlot of Nuits-St-Georges have announced the appointment of a new technical director in the form of Jacques Devauges, pictured right.
A Burgundy resident, Devauges has for the last six years been in charge of production at Maison Fréderic Magnien and Dom Michel Magnien in nearby Morey-St-Denis. Prior to that, he worked at Boisset's Dom de la Vougeraie and in the Napa Valley at Ch Potelle.
Earlier this month, the previous incumbent Olivier Leriche left Dom de l'Arlot to begin a new project at Dom des Accoles in the Ardèche, and Devauges had been lined up since the spring by AXA Millésimes head honcho Christian Seely to take the helm for the 2011 vintage. He says, 'we see an exceptionally early harvest but with grapes maturing in a moderate pace which is globally positive for the Pinot Noir grapes. We are following very carefully the evolution in the vineyard and prepare ourselves for harvest in the first days of September'.
Those vineyards bring considerable responsibility, consisting of 10.2 hectares of premier-cru land as well as just 0.3 precious hectares within the Romanée-St-Vivant grand cru. It is furthermore the sole Burgundian outpost of the AXA Millésimes empire, whose other properties include Ch Sudiuraut in Sauternes and Ch Pichon-Longueville (Baron) in Pauillac.
Domaine de l’Arlot was managed by Jean-Pierre de Smet until 2007 when de Smet retired. Christian Seely took over as managing director of Arlot then, retaining Olivier Leriche, who had been working with de Smet since 1998. He and his wife Florence are apparently planning to devote themselves to their own domaine in the Ardèche.
Purple pages members can see 47 tasting notes on the various Dom de l'Arlot cuvées by searching for 'Arlot' via our tasting notes search.