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Elegance and finesse
Véronique Drouhin on wine, women…and Oregon
by Thor Iverson
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 In 1961, Robert Drouhin -- patriarch of the famed Burgundy winemaking firm Joseph Drouhin -- visited Oregon and found it both beautiful and reminiscent of home. But what he never could have guessed was that nearly forty years later, one of the state's leading winemakers would be his daughter, Véronique.
The grape of red Burgundy is the elusive, mystical pinot noir, and it's incredibly difficult to grow. In location after location, otherwise talented winemakers fail spectacularly in their attempts to grow and vinify it. Yet Véronique Drouhin has mastered the grape on two continents, as head winemaker for Domaine Drouhin Oregon, and as a consulting winemaker for her family's Burgundian operation.
Véronique broke new ground by becoming Burgundy's first female oenologist, and one of the very few women to work anywhere in the Burgundy wine trade. But it was her family's risky Oregon venture that proved to be her biggest test, as people on both sides of the Atlantic watched her put Drouhin's century-old reputation for excellence on the line. Still, in tasting after tasting, her vision has proved clear. Whether in France or America, Véronique Drouhin makes some of the most seductive and ethereal wines in the world.
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On video: Meet Véronique Drouhin.
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Véronique Drouhin
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