Lou Dumont Bourgogne Passe-tout-Grains 2014

The name Lou Dumont is a combination of their goddaughter’s name Lou (who as Koji says is charming and with much character, as is their wines), and from the mountains, which is where Koji and Jae Hwa grew up. Their Passe-tout-grains, is light and bright yet complex; an 80/20 blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay, it offers ripe cherries followed by mouthwatering acidity that envelop the palate.

Driven by a passion for Burgundy and the dream of making wine, Japanese Sommelier Koji Nakada left his native Tokyo in 1996 and moved to Beaune to study oenology at the prestigious CFPPA. The first thing he had to do was learn French. He enrolled in language class at Dijon where his teacher was the lovely Jae Hwa Park, an expatriated Korean. During Koji’s studies in Beaune, and during his subsequent internships at Chateau Kirwan in Bordeaux, and at small houses in Champagne and Alsace, the two dated and then married. They formed Maison Lou Dumont, their artisanal micro-negociant domaine in Gevrey-Chambertin, in 2000.