It’s easy to get cynical when Burgundy’s absolute biggest name takes a stake in Oregon. But it got our attention that the wines of Académie—spearheaded by DRC’s Bertrand de Villaine—have been made stateside for a full decade but never actually sold here.

We’ve just tasted this inaugural release with Bertrand's partner in the work, Thomas Savre, and—even among the growing stack of talented Burgundy projects in Oregon—the wines still feel a singular entry.

While heavily informed by their lives at DRC, these are decidedly not a reproduction of Burgundy’s most famed approach to Pinot Noir: the flagship is Chardonnay, and Pinot sees careful touches of destemmed fruit and moments in concrete. And the wines are firmly not parcelaire—with a staunch commitment to the complexity that comes from blending.

The context of how they ended up stateside is even more compelling; there is a genuine love for Oregon and its terroir here.

It's a touch surprising that the story starts in Oregon; you could even argue that McMinnville is Bertrand de Villaine's origin story in wine.

And it doesn't start with an aim for winemaking. During an exchange semester in business school, he fell in love with Oregon, and its wine; eventually returning back home on a new path, working his way up the family estate to co-director of DRC. But the Willamette Valley's magnetism stuck to him, and in 2016 he started Ostia Tempore to explore it with his friend Thomas Savre (whose resumé is very healthily stacked with Dujac, DRC, Evening Land and Lingua Franca). Only—100% of the production was brought back to France.
With the '25 vintage, they are finally distributing those wines here, alongside a powerful new project: Académie.

Académie's Thomas Savre, Dominique Lafon, Bertrand de Villaine, and Joshua Wludyka

The work really deepens here (with additional inputs from Dominique Lafon and Lingua Franca's Joshua Wludyka) with an approach built for aging. And their vineyard sources reference several of the state's benchmark farmers—from 30 year old vines planted by Beaux Frères, to Mimi Casteel's old Hopewell farm (one of our dearest and most fervently regenerative Oregon names).

Where the Ostia Tempore wines offer a touch more generosity, and certainly more delicious immediacy; Académie has more high-wire tension, with new French oak (40-45%) across the line, and incredibly detailed focus on every single step of production. All of the reds see dialed in, varying amounts of destemmed fruit. Even the corks are individually examined to identify a more perfect end for contact with the wine (a callback to the first task Thomas was assigned while interning at DRC).

But across both labels, these are among the most powerfully textured, visceral expressions of Oregon we've seen—thrilled to introduce.

And, a fun easter egg: the labels are designed by Louise Lachaux, whose talents also appear on her husband's négoce project.

OSTIA TEMPORE:

2025 Ostia Tempore Willamette Valley Chardonnay, Oregon $60
Whole cluster pressed and aged in barrel 9 months. This is all salt and citrus, barrel-aged electrolytes.

2025 Ostia Tempore Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, Oregon $60
Fermented with some whole clusters and aged in oak. From Mimi's old vineyard facing Mount Hood, with the site's signature forested, roasted dark red fruit.

2025 Ostia Tempore 'Honoris' Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon $90
Fermented and aged in small-format concrete; bright, pure forest fruit with a touch of graphite-like reduction; lip-smacking but very serious wine.

ACADÉMIE:

2024 Académie 'Ferveur' Chardonnay, Willamette Valley, Oregon, $105
Fermented and aged in a mix of stainless steel and 40% new French oak. Saline, herbal, borders on unctuous.

2024 Académie 'Apprivoisé' Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon, $105
Fermented and aged in a mix of concrete and 45% new French oak, with 16 months élevage followed by a brief settling in tank. Saline, elegant; styled to be the more fresh-and-delicious of the two Pinots here.

2024 Académie 'L’Attente' Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon, $105
Like 'Apprivoisé,' this is fermented and aged in a mix of concrete and 45% new French oak, 16 months élevage followed by a brief settling in tank. A touch more reductive, darker-toned; styled to be a more pensive counterpoint.

2024 Académie 'La Grande Comète' Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, $165
Fermented with 60% whole clusters and aged in a mix of concrete, stainless steel, and 45% new French oak. Waves of dark, forested fruit, spice and tannin; masterful wine.

2024 Académie 'La Grande Comète' Chardonnay, Willamette Valley, $165
The flagship cuvée, fermented and aged in a mix of stainless steel and 40% new French oak. 16 months in barrel followed by 6 months in tank, all on the lees; textured but high-toned elegance, simply uncompromising wine.

SHOP ALL OREGON