Maison Patriarche

Jean-Baptiste Patriarche founded the house in Beaune in 1780 and shortly afterwards made the purchase that still defines it: the convent of the Visitandines, a seventeenth-century building whose underground galleries he turned into a cellar. Those cellars are still the headquarters and are the largest in Burgundy, holding several million bottles; some of the galleries date from the thirteenth century.

The founder looked for buyers abroad from the outset: he was exporting to Great Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium when that was far from usual. The house then passed through hands that each gave it a push: Léonce Bocquet, around 1850, brought it to the courts of Europe; André Boisseaux, from 1940, made it one of Burgundy's major names; and in 1955 Georges Kritter created Kriter, the sparkling wine brand. Since 2011 it has belonged to Pierre Castel, who has invested in the cellars.

It is worth placing it correctly: Patriarche is a négociant house, not a domaine. Its trade is buying, ageing and bottling wine from Burgundy's appellations rather than farming each parcel itself.