Domaine Jaeger-Defaix

Winemakers since the 16th century, the Niepce family owns Premier Cru vineyards in the Rully appellation. In October 2002, Henriette Niepce bequeathed a plot of Rully Premier Cru Mont-Palais white to her grandniece, Hélène Jaeger (wife of Didier Defaix of Domaine Bernard Defaix in Chablis). This plot is part of an estate entirely comprised of Rully Premier Cru white and red wines that Hélène wished to take over in its entirety in order to carry on the winemaking tradition of her Niepce ancestors, who have been winemakers since the 16th century. 

Henri Niepce, his great-grandfather, is one of the leading figures ofthe Rully appellation. In the 1930s and 1940s, he worked tirelessly to secure Rully’s Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) status and then to establish the reputation of the fledgling AOC. Located in the Côte Chalonnaise, south of the Côte de Beaune, the Rully vineyard now covers 330 hectares (220 hectares of white and 110 hectares of red), of which only 100 hectares are classified as red and white Premier Crus.