Ethan Dupree wants to take you on a culinary adventure. The owner of Dupree & Company on Old South Wharf has opened an underground wine bar on 18 Broad Street called Meursault, offering wine, artisanal beer, cheese, charcuterie, fine chocolate, and good company. As a dining experience, Meursault cannot be pigeonholed as a restaurant or bar, but might be best described as a rustic, European-inspired eatery that evolves over the course of the day.
“Meursault is a very versatile place,” Dupree says. “It offers the small snack—three tastes paired with some wines—where it can be a pre-meal or after meal. Or you can come in and taste through cheeses and taste through charcuteries and it can supplement as a meal…we run the whole spectrum.” Come in off the beach and you could be sipping chilled rosé, snacking on stinky cheeses, and listening to Django Reinhardt, while at night Meursault could have you toasting a robust Burgundy while dining on elaborate boards of cured meats in an intimate, candle-lit setting. Whether you’re a discerning oenophile or just a casual diner looking for a taste of something different, Dupree caters the experience specifically to you. “I come to it trying to create a moment and let people enjoy,” he says. “I want to let people drive the journey, and I’m just there trying to keep them on the road map and maybe offer some cool little turnoffs to places where they have not thought about or experienced.”
When it comes to creating unique experiences, Ethan Dupree is literally a professional. In the offseason he guides people on adventures through the hills and vineyards of Burgundy, taking them “down the back roads and in through the back doors” to experience the history, art, wine and food of the Old World. He hopes to bring a similar experience to his twenty or so seats at Meursault, where good conversation and storytelling go hand-in-hand with exquisitely curated cheeses, meats and wines.
Dupree got his start in wine and cheese on Nantucket, as an apprentice to former Topper’s sommelier, Michael Fahey. After continuing his studies off island in New York City, Dupree moved to Europe, spending two years in Italy and four in France where he received an education in viniculture. He rolled into Burgundy with just a rucksack and a rusty ten-speed bike and knocked on the doors of some of the regions most revered winemakers, offering himself up as an apprentice. From the vine to the barrel, Dupree worked his way up the ranks and became chef de la cave at Domaine des Comte Lafon in Meursault. During this time, he fell in love with Meursault and vowed to bring his pas- sion for the place back to Nantucket.
Meursault found a home this winter when the underground space of Cordillera opened up after twenty-seven years on Broad Street. Dupree had long envisioned what he could do with that unique, basement location. “The concept I’m bringing in there is very site specific,” he says. “It will have an Old World nuance to it, with a nod to Nantucket.”
So if you’re looking to get away from this island getaway, take the stairs down to Meursault where Ethan Dupree will be waiting to take you on a culinary adventure.
