Domaine Henri Naudin-Ferrand (Claire Naudin)

The Naudin family is anchored at Magny-les-Villers, a commune that straddles the boundary between the Hautes-Cotes de Beaune and the Hautes-Cotes de Nuits and sits just above the Cote de Nuits proper. Henri Naudin-Ferrand built the modern estate across the second half of the twentieth century, accumulating parcels across the surrounding Hautes-Cotes and establishing Bourgogne Aligote and Hautes-Cotes Pinot Noir as the working production. Daughter Claire Naudin returned to the family domaine in 1994 after wine studies and took over the winemaking; Henri retained oversight of the vineyards for several years before stepping back. The label still carries Henri Naudin-Ferrand's name, but the working domaine is widely known in the trade by Claire's name. The estate has stayed family-run across the generational transition, with Claire's commitment to organic and biodynamic farming progressively reshaping practice across the late 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s.

• Naudin family anchored at Magny-les-Villers on the Hautes-Cotes de Beaune / de Nuits boundary, just above the Cote de Nuits proper
• Henri Naudin-Ferrand built the modern estate across the second half of the twentieth century
• Claire Naudin returned to the family domaine in 1994 and took over winemaking; Henri retained vineyard oversight for several years before stepping back
• Label still reads Henri Naudin-Ferrand; the working domaine is widely known in the trade by Claire's name

The estate covers approximately 22 hectares with the bulk of holdings in the Hautes-Cotes de Beaune and the Hautes-Cotes de Nuits. The Hautes-Cotes parcels are spread across the higher-elevation slopes around Magny-les-Villers and the neighbouring communes, planted to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Aligote. The estate also farms a small Cote de Nuits-Villages parcel at Corgoloin (the southernmost commune of the Cote de Nuits, just below Magny-les-Villers), which feeds both the Cote de Nuits-Villages bottling and the principal Le Clou 34 Aligote parcel. A small Passe-Tout-Grains block (the historic Burgundy blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay, bottled as the Belandine cuvee) rounds out the working footprint. The Hautes-Cotes elevation (roughly 300 to 400 metres) and cooler microclimate push harvest dates later than the Cote d'Or proper, with brighter natural acidity in the resulting wines.

• Approximately 22 hectares; bulk in the Hautes-Cotes de Beaune and de Nuits with a small Cote de Nuits-Villages footprint at Corgoloin
• Higher-elevation Hautes-Cotes parcels planted to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Aligote
• Small Passe-Tout-Grains block bottled as the Belandine cuvee (the historic Burgundy Pinot Noir and Gamay blend)
• Hautes-Cotes elevation of roughly 300 to 400 metres pushes harvest dates later than the Cote d'Or, with brighter natural acidity

Claire Naudin has worked the estate organically and increasingly biodynamically across the past two decades, but the domaine remains deliberately uncertified. Claire's stated position is that an organic label tends to standardise practice and remove flexibility from what is in her view fundamentally an attentive farming question rather than a marketing one; she would rather decide cuvee by cuvee and season by season what the vines need. The viticultural protocol nevertheless reads like a careful organic and biodynamic operation: cover crops between rows, manual ploughing where slope allows, herbal and homeopathic preparations rather than synthetic treatments in normal years, harvests by hand. The position is shared with a small number of other quality-driven Burgundy producers who have decided that the certification frameworks ask for compromises they are unwilling to make, and the estate's wines have been read in the trade as a credibility argument for working without the label.

• Estate works organically and biodynamically but remains deliberately uncertified by Claire's choice
• Stated rationale: certification standardises practice and removes flexibility from cuvee-by-cuvee and season-by-season farming decisions
• Protocol reads like a careful organic and biodynamic operation (cover crops, manual ploughing, herbal preparations, hand harvest) without the formal label
• Position shared with a small number of other quality-driven Burgundy producers who have declined certification on similar grounds

The signature wine is Le Clou 34, an old-vine Aligote that comes principally from a 1934 planting at the Le Clou lieu-dit in Corgoloin (the Cote de Nuits-Villages commune immediately south of Magny-les-Villers) together with a still-older 1902 parcel at Magny-les-Villers itself; several other older blocks contribute fractions of the blend. The 34 in the name refers to the year of the planting, not to a row number. Claire considers the wine atypical of Bourgogne Aligote, with aromatics that lean toward exotic fruit and floral registers more than the lean citrus-and-orchard profile that defines the appellation, and has chosen to bottle it as Vin de France rather than Bourgogne Aligote so that the label commits to no stylistic claim it does not deliver. The vinification follows the estate's broader cellar logic: whole-cluster pressing, indigenous-yeast fermentation, long lees ageing in mostly older Burgundy barrels, low sulfur additions, and bottling without filtration. Le Clou 34 has become one of the central wines in the modern Aligote revival alongside the Bouzeron AOC anchor production from Domaine A. et P. de Villaine and the Coche-Dury Bourgogne Aligote.

• Le Clou 34 is sourced principally from a 1934 Aligote planting at the Le Clou lieu-dit in Corgoloin together with an older 1902 parcel at Magny-les-Villers; several other older blocks contribute fractions of the blend
• The 34 in the name refers to the year of the planting (1934), not to a row number
• Bottled as Vin de France rather than Bourgogne Aligote because Claire considers the wine atypical of the appellation
• Vinification: whole-cluster press, indigenous-yeast fermentation, long lees ageing in mostly older Burgundy barrels, low sulfur, bottled without filtration