Domaine Henri Bourgeois meets Restaurant Benjamin

Domaine Henri Bourgeois meets Restaurant Benjamin.

Recently we were invited to attend the tasting and lunch in the heart of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, at Restaurant Benjamin. Restaurant owner and sommelier Chiel Seuren partnered with wine importer Yoeri Vojacek from Vojacek Wijnen to bring Domaine Henri Bourgeois to the Netherlands for an inspiring afternoon, and we’re glad they did! Vojacek has been working with the Bourgeois family for as long as 50 years, which is clearly notable in the way they warmly interact with each other.

The Reference of Sancerre

If you say Chavignol, you say Domaine Henri Bourgeois. With the 10th generation now at the helm, the heritage of the domaine is continued in the best possible way. Since the 17th century the family has had a tradition of winegrowing, but it was Henri Bourgeois who flipped the switch in the 1930s and started to fully focus on wine. A true family business, his sons Rémi and Jean Marie and their sons Arnaud, Lionel and Jean-Christophe all contributed their strengths to the domaine. The family has since become a benchmark and true ambassador for the region’s quality. They are showcasing the beauty of the region with respect for nature and people. The 2023 Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé wines are the first vintage with full organic certification.

A Sense of Place

The 66 hectares of Domaine Henri Bourgeois stretch across three distinct terroirs that define the identity of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé: Kimmeridgian marl, Silex (flint), and limestone clays. The focus of the domain shifted to pure terroir expressions.

In answer to the lack of a wine category in Sancerre similar to Petit Chablis in the Chablis region, the domain created Petit Bourgeois (2024 – 88/100 DWA score). A youthful, crisp, and delicate Sauvignon Blanc made with grapes of small growers. It’s subtle, smooth, elegant and the perfect apéritif if you’re not into sparkling wines. Big sibling Grand Bourgeois (2024 – 89/100 DWA score) deepens and is more expressive, its late-harvested grapes and flinty soils adding smoky roundness and a beautifully integrated acidity.

Over the river to the east lies sister appellation Pouilly-Fumé, famous for its flinty soils. Pouilly-Fumé (2023 – 90/100 DWA score) showed guava, freshness, spice, smoke, and a salty elegance, with the structure to age for decades. Pouilly-Fumé JS-150 (2022 – 92/100 DWA score), formerly La Demoiselle, was richer and more layered thanks to partial barrel aging, yet still refined, shaped by its Kimmeridgian limestone and bright, gentle acidity. Mind you, barrel aging is only used by the domain to enhance the wine, not to add flavor.

The Sancerre range displayed the estate’s precision in blending and single-parcel expression. Sancerre La Côte des Monts Damnés (2023 – 95/100 DWA score) comes from the famously steep ‘damned hills,’ one of the most vertiginous vineyard sites in the region. Powerful and elegant, Monts Damnés is a true benchmark Sancerre. Sancerre Eocene Silex ES-56 (2022 – 94/100 DWA score) is powerful and mouth-filling with clear flinty depth and made to age for the next decades; Sancerre d’Antan (2023 – 93/100 DWA score) shows softer and rounded, shaped by lower-lying flint vineyards, and it’s almost like licking flint rock. And Sancerre Jadis (2023 – 94/100 DWA score), a concentrated Kimmeridgian expression with a more gripping acidity, pronounced flavor profile, and an oily texture. It’s aged 30% on new oak, 30% old, and 30% inox, resulting in a wine that lingers. ‘Jadis d’Antan’ is a French expression that refers to reminiscing about old times.

Sancerre Rouge (2022 – 89/100 DWA score) was lively and peppery with wild cherry and lovely integrated acidity, while Sancerre Rouge ES-56 (2019 – 93/100 DWA score), grown on 56-million-year-old flint, showed deeper fruit, firmer tannins, and a complexity that nudges close to Burgundy.

Kiwi Wines with the Heart of France

From Sancerre to Marlborough may feel like a big leap, but at Clos Henri the connection is instantly tangible in the wines. The estate is naturally divided by two contrasting terroirs: a stony greywacke hillside and an old riverbed. Pinot Noir is planted on the cooler slopes, where the rocky, poor soils give structure, spice, and depth, resulting in the Clos Henri Marlborough Pinot Noir Estate (2021 – 90/100 DWA score): a sunny-year Pinot with the typical Marlborough slightly rustic, smoky edge and expressive berry fruit.

On the warmer, stone-littered riverbed, Sauvignon Blanc thrives with lifted aromatics and generous fruit, perfectly shown in the Clos Henri Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc Waimaunga (2024 – 91/100 DWA score), a limited single-vineyard bottling (“wai” meaning water, “maunga” meaning mountain) that offers everything you expect from Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, with remarkable finesse and depth.

Did we mention there is a relocated chapel restored to mirror the little church in Chavignol, which now serves as a tasting room?

Gastronomic Creativity and Care

What Chefs create in a fine dining restaurant is in itself a true form of art, but when every flavor elevates the dish and is in a perfect marriage with the wines, you know you’re in the right place. Benjamin does just that. The dishes served are elegant, full of flavor, and perfectly matched with the wines — not one flavor compound is out of place. 

We enjoyed the following three courses:

Gamba | Tartar | Tomato | Basil

Sancerre La Côte des Monts Damnés (2023 – 95/100 DWA score)

Clos Henri Waimaunga (2024 – 91/100 DWA score)

The soft palate and natural creaminess of the Gamba tartar was balanced with the freshness of tomato and basil, resulting in a well-balanced, aromatic start. Both the creaminess of the gamba and the freshness of the basil elevated the wines, and vice versa, giving a most delicate match with the equally powerful and elegant La Côte des Monts Damnés. The Clos Henri Waimaunga was a more electric match — it exploded into an expressive pairing, a harmonious dance between the wine’s oily acidity and fruitiness and the dish’s soft texture and herbal character.

Veal | Pumpkin | Oregano | Turnip Greens | Salsa Verde

Sancerre Rouge ES-56 (2022 – 94/100 DWA score)

Clos Henri Pinot Noir Estate (2019 – 90/100 DWA score)

The best of the fall season was combined in the pairing for the main course. The dish was creamy, salty, flavorful, delicate, and comforting. This is where Pinot Noir joined the party. The Sancerre Rouge ES-56, with aromas of silex, wild strawberries, spiciness, subtly gripping tannins, and a delicate acidity, balanced the dish very well — making a rich and comforting, yet elegant and digestible pairing. In New Zealand, 2019 was a sunny year, which resulted in a generous, spicy, smoky, and fruit-driven Pinot. Need we explain the match?

Crottin de Chavignol | Celery | String Bean | Little Gem

Sancerre Grand Bourgeois (2024 – 89/100 DWA score)

Chavignol not only has an AOP for wine, but it also has its own AOP for, of course, their very own goat cheese: Crottin de Chavignol — a characteristic, soft and creamy cheese made from the milk of goats roaming the hills of Chavignol. In this last course, the soft, salty, and delicately creamy Crottin de Chavignol was paired with the sweet green flavors of celery, string beans, and Little Gem lettuce. A delicate, fresh, and mildly sweet ending to a great lunch, paired with Grand Bourgeois, which was -yes, again- a lovely match. Delicate enough to be light and herbal, yet grand enough to accompany the richness of the Crottin, while simultaneously matching its acidity.

If these dishes, and Restaurant Benjamin, have piqued your interest check out our earlier article on the Restaurant here, and our podcast episode with them on Chefs and Cellars here.

Conclusion

This tasting showed why Domaine Henri Bourgeois continues to stand as one of the great ambassadors of Sancerre: a family who lets the land speak, whether through flinty tension, limestone precision, or the power of Kimmeridgian marl — and every pairing at Restaurant Benjamin revealed just how naturally these wines belong at the table. In both Chavignol and Marlborough, the Bourgeois family allows the land to speak with purity and restraint, crafting wines that are detailed, honest, and deeply rooted in place.

Article written by our own Laura Heijs. With special thanks to Thierry Bougit of Famille Bourgeois for presenting the wines, Yoeri Vojacek of Vojacek Wijnen and Chiel Seuren from Restaurant Benjamin for hosting this enjoyable and memorable lunch.