Domaine Henri Magnien

Whilst driving back through the quiet roads from Amélie Berthaut’s domaine in Fixin to Gevrey-Chambertin, I had to pull over to help a cat who was wandering aimlessly in the middle of the road. I was joined shortly after by a local man, who had stopped to see if I needed any help, which I clearly did. A little while later we had managed to get the ailing cat into a box and headed off to the vet to be checked over. I got chatting to my fellow cat lover and it turns out that, like me, he was in wine, or more accurately had been until his fairly recent retirement. A bit more probing and he revealed he was none other than François Magnien, father of Charles Magnien, the current incumbent of this domaine with whom we have been working for a few years and for whom we are now his biggest global importer.

After agreeing what a small world it is, he began to talk of the great history of his family and their involvement in wine in Gevrey-Chambertin which stretched back to 1656, when the domaine was first established (a mere 367 years ago). He referenced their ‘personal clone’, Pinot Magnien, which produces small berries with a high skin to juice ratio, giving the wines an innate concentration that allows Charles to be quite delicate in his extraction. It was fascinating stuff. François passed the pipette to Charles ten years ago and now the Domaine bottles all of its production, with Charles having quickly established himself as one of the most thoughtful and highly talented new stars of the Côte de Nuits.

His first vintage alongside his father was 2009, his first vintage in charge was 2021, and his first vintage ‘unshackled’ was 2015. In 2018, he completed his very smart new cuverie, which gives him more space and freedom to work his magic. Except for his special cuvée, Les 4 Carac’Terres, he doesn’t really use whole bunch. A little sprinkling here and there in certain vintages just to add a touch of more freshness is enough for him. As he says, if the nights are fairly cool leading up to the harvest, as they were in 2022, then he prefers not to.

Following the recent additions of some Aloxe, some Corton and some Côte de Nuits Villages, the domaine now totals eight hectares, a sizeable chunk of which is made up of the 1er Cru Cazetiers, which lies just behind the domaine. Charles is the only vigneron to have vines in all four of the recognised soil types within Cazetiers, helping him to produce the most complete version of this wonderful appellation.

Charles is as hard-working as he is passionate and it is little surprise that these two attributes, along with a great creative talent, have made him and his wines very sought after in a relatively short space of time.