Domaine Derain

Dominique Derain and his wife Catherine founded the estate in Saint-Aubin in 1988. Dominique trained as a cooper before studying winemaking in Beaune, and converted the 5.5 hectares of vines to biodynamics almost immediately - Ecocert certified in 1989, which makes Derain one of the earliest biodynamic domaines in Burgundy. Minimal intervention in the cellar, indigenous yeasts, low-to-no SO2, no fining or filtration.

Julien Altaber did his first harvest at sixteen, interned in the Mâconnais and Beaujolais, and joined Dominique at Derain in 2002. In 2007 he founded his own négoce, Sextant (own cellar from 2013). When Dominique retired in 2016 Julien and his partner Carole Schwab took over the fermage; the transition to fully Altaber-made wines ran through the late-2010s. Sextant and Derain run out of the same cellar but remain two separate labels - Derain is the Saint-Aubin estate, Sextant the broader biodynamic négoce. Dominique is retired but still around as mentor.

The holdings run to around 5.5 hectares of old-vine Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, a little Aligoté and some Pinot Beurot (the Burgundian synonym for Pinot Gris), spread across Saint-Aubin (with 1er Cru plots including Les Combes au Sud, Sur le Sentier du Clou, En Remilly and Murgers des Dents de Chien), Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet, Pommard (Les Petits Noizons), Gevrey-Chambertin (En Vosne), and Mercurey - where the 0.9-hectare La Plante Chassey parcel, planted by Dominique's grandfather around a century ago with some 15% Pinot Beurot co-planted, is the signature plot. Whites include a sparkling Aligoté called "Chut".