One of the newest is the young Catharina Sadde, who sold out almost instantly in her first official vintage, 2019. Make no mistake though – Catharina is no novice: she has a resumé that would be the envy of any aspiring winemaker, with stints at Domaine de la Romanée Conti, Drouhin, Comtes de Vogüé, Marquis d’Angerville amongst others.

Catharina categorises her winemaking style as “low-intervention”. Making crystal-clean wines is of utmost importance to her, along with showcasing the special nuances of Burgundian terroir – the reason she fell in love with Burgundy in the first place. In our view, she’s achieved that with astounding success.

In our tastings of her inaugural vintage, we found the more easygoing Coteaux Bourguignons and skin-contact aligoté exuberant and brimming with joie de vivre. Her Pinots, on the other hand, are serious, deep wines that possess huge potential for aging. They combine sensual, concentrated fruit with silky, fine-grained tannins. Colour us impressed.

Photo credit: Flatiron Wines

A bona-fide epicurean, Catharina had originally planned on a culinary career. She started off studying gastronomy and working in several top restaurants in her native Germany before finding her true calling in wine.

She wasted no time in pursuing her new passion with aplomb, completing a degree in viticulture from Germany’s most prestigious wine school, Geisenheim; then a masters in Montpelier; swiftly followed by an internship at Domaine de la Romanée Conti. She then worked at a succession of renowned Burgundy estates: Domaine des Epeneaux, Comte Armand, Drouhin, and Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé. Most notably, she was head of viticulture at Domaine Marquis d'Angerville, and was Cecile Tremblay’s second-in-command in Vosne-Romanée for three years. All of this is to say: Catharina is certainly not one to do anything in half measures.

In 2018, she was offered a small plot of vines in Beaune. This was followed by a few more in Volnay and Pommard in 2019. It was then that she and her husband Guilhem, a Dijon native, decided to pour all their efforts into making their own wine – and thus, their domaine was born. She named it ‘Les Horées’, a beautiful and soulful name inspired by the ancient Greek celebrations during the changing of seasons: the Greek goddesses of the seasons are known as “Horae” (hours). The name pays tribute to Catharina’s deep connection with nature, an ethos that is infused throughout all of her work.

Les Horées’ old vines in spring (photo credit: Les Horées)

Many of the domaines at which Catharina previously worked were pioneers of biodynamic farming, and this is an area of passion for Catharina as well. She and her husband do everything in the vineyard by hand, and for now, while the domaine is small, by themselves too.

Like many of our favourite producers, she believes that purely manual and natural vineyard care is the basis for fully ripe and healthy grapes, and that healthy grapes in turn will produce great wine. Of course, like many other young Burgundian producers, Catharina’s own holdings are modest. For now, she supplements their ‘micro domaine’ with grapes purchased from trusted growers, but intends to slowly reduce the fruit she purchases and work only with grapes she farms herself.

I was particularly impressed by her mastery of whole-bunch fermentation that at this address contributes all of the exotic spice and powdery tannin of which it’s capable—but none of the herbaceous character or structural asperity that it can bring in the wrong hands. — William Kelley

An astute and careful winemaker, Catharina has perhaps a bit of a perfectionist streak. No effort is spared to achieve the structure, style and quality she desires in her wines.

In 2019, she made a single white cuvée with Aligoté – a grape she herself adores – and used a small amount of skin-contact to bring out the character of this lesser-known Burgundy white grape. For the reds, both pinot and gamay, she partially destems the grapes, painstakingly cutting away the thick central stems by hand to avoid the coarser tannins that they bring, while retaining the finer stems for structure. The grapes are then left to ferment in an open vat on their own yeasts.

Soutirage of the 2019s (photo credit: Les Horées)

Catharina believes that it is these particular wild yeasts that are ultimately responsible for the minerality and complexity of the wines. She prefers to gently wash over the must, supported by a few gentle foot-powered pigeages. She is also very judicious with sulphur use, adding only tiny amounts after malolactic fermentation is complete. The wines are matured exclusively in used barriques, where the wines can mature and develop without taking on a noticeable wood aroma.

The rigorous attention to detail extends not only to her labels (which are works of art in their own right), but also to the corks she uses, which come from old cork-oaks that grow in a nature park near Lisbon. They’re particularly hard and dense, and are treated only with beeswax that is carefully hand-applied on the outside. It is this scrupulous attention to every small element that separates the good from the great. Her star is surely set to rise: it is only a matter of time before the rest of the world catches on to these spectacular creations.

Sadly, quantities at Les Horées are tiny, and nor are they likely to substantially increase in the imminent future, but I encourage readers to make every effort to secure a few bottles from this immensely exciting new project. — William Kelley

The offer is valid until 3 December 2021. Orders will be processed subject to availability and final written confirmation. Some wines have restrictive supplies, so please understand that we may have to allocate them in order to ensure as equitable a distribution as possible. Full payment is required no later than 7 days after confirmation invoice is sent in order to confirm the purchase. All terms and conditions apply.