Clive Coates describes this as the “best cellar in the village” of Marsannay, which is located at the northernmost tip of the Côte de Nuits. The domaine is one of the finest in Burgundy, and this vigneron is one to watch in the future, but he has not always enjoyed such auspicious prospects. In “The Great Domaines of Burgundy”, Remington Norman writes: “Bruno Clair’s excellent Domaine has grown out of a certain amount of Burgundian misfortune.” When Joseph Clair married Mlle. Daü in 1910, their union formed one of the largest family-owned domaines in the Côte d’Or,Domaine Clair-Daü.

The majority of their vineyards were in Marsannay, where Joseph Clair created a Pinot Noir Rosé de Marsannay which now has its own appellation and may be the finest rosé in France, outside Champagne. Domaine Clair-Daü encompassed all the family’s vineyard along the Côte, which were subsequently bequeathed to Joseph’s son, Bernard, and two daughters. In the 1970’s, the domaine suffered the too-often repeated Burgundian fate of family dissension regarding the direction each of the heirs advocated for the estate, eventually leading to the division of Domaine Clair-Daü and the sale of many vineyards to Maison Louis Jadot. Bernard left in frustration to start up on his own, and Bernard’s son Bruno was left without the domaine which he might have otherwise managed.

In 1978, Bruno Clair started to replant a parcel of his own in Marsannay, rented vineyard in Fixin, and purchased land in Morey-St.-Denis to clear and plant. Gradually he built his domaine to its present size of 21.06 hectares. The vine age ranges from 5-90 years, the oldest vines being those of la Dominode.