The Rapet family estate has a history going back almost three centuries. A treasured “tastevin” (wine-taster) dating from 1765, on which the family name appears, is carefully kept from generation to generation. Vincent, the grandson of Robert and son of Roland, along with his wife, Sylvette, are now hard at work managing the estate. Together, they produce modern wines representative of their terroir.

The Rapet holdings comprise 20 hectares of vines in the villages of Pernand-Vergelesses, Savigny les Beaune, Aloxe Corton and Beaune. With the exception of Burgundy aligoté, their white wines are made with Chardonnay. The grapes are pressed pneumatically, with the whole grapes pressed for three hours. After 24 hours racking at low temperature, the grape juice is placed in barrels to ferment, the proportion of new barrels being 30%. Ageing on the lees and stirring lasts until July, bottling is carried out after 12 months ageing.

All their red wines use Pinot Noir. They look to make rich fruity wines, with a blend of tannins, typical of well-ripened grapes. They use a sorting table and conveyor to fill the tanks without damaging the grapes. Fermentation takes 15 days and the grapes are punched down so that the rich color of the skin is transmitted to the wine before pressing. Aging is in barrels, 20% of which are new. Drawing off the wine with bellows means that there is no need to use a pump.