In 2019, the Drouhin family celebrated the 70th anniversary of their donation
In 1947, Maurice Drouhin offered the Hospices de Beaune wine estate 2.69 hectares of Beaune Premier Cru vines. This gift was all the more remarkable as it corresponded, at the time, to a third of his estate. “It says a lot about his personality. Liaison officer with the American army during the First World War, Maurice Drouhin had established friendships with many Americans, including a certain Colonel Mac Arthur. This gift is both a story of the heart and an epic story,” recounted Franck Bassoleil, journalist at Public good. The grandsons and great-grandchildren of Maurice Drouhin commemorated the 70th anniversary of this donation on Tuesday June 18, 2019. It began with a private visit to the Hôtel-Dieu. Alongside his grandchildren, today at the head of the Joseph Drouhin house: Frédéric, the conductor of the house, Philippe, director of the estates who developed the biodynamic culture, Laurent, director of the American market and Véronique Drouhin-Boss, oenologist.
“The Door to Freedom”
Several partners and friends joined this family pilgrimage. This commemoration continued at the press, then in the cellars of the Parliament of the Dukes of Burgundy. Véronique Drouhin-Boss led the guests through the maze of the house's cellars in the company of her daughters, Laurène, 26 years old, and Louise, 22 years old, before stopping in front of a door: “We call it the door of freedom , because it was through this door that Maurice Drouhin escaped on June 7, 1944, when the German police came to get him. It overlooks Rue d'Enfer and from there, he took refuge at the Hôtel-Dieu, where the mother superior welcomed him. » Without the assistance of the Hospitaller Sisters, he would have been arrested for acts of resistance and undoubtedly shot or deported.
