BURGUNDY

Denis Mortet founded the estate in the early 1990’s after he inherited half of his father’s estate Charles Mortet. He rapidly became known among Burgundy wine lovers as he produced a series of very good vintages in the 90’s, he is still perceived as one of the most emblematic figures in Gevrey-Chambertin. When Denis Mortet passed away in 2006, his son, Arnaud took over the estate. Arnaud is following his father’s steps with the same obsession for excellence. The wines are now very true to their origins, but have become a lot more elegant and refined than those of Denis have been in the past.

The domaine benefits from a great range of appellations mostly located on the commune of Gevrey-Chambertin, with a tiny parcel of 0.15ha of the king of wines: Chambertin. The estate possesses also some very interesting 1er Crus, well situated on the Combe de Lavaux part of Gevrey. The Gevrey Chambertin Village “Mes Cinq Terroirs” is a blend of different “super” Lieux Dits (Au Vellé, En Derée, En Motrot, Combe dessus, En Champs) planted with old vines. In good vintages, this wine could easily pass for a 1er Cru.

🍀 Lutte Raisonnée

10.8 Ha

Jérôme Galeyrand is in his second career having found his true calling in the late 1990s after having done a vintage with Gevrey-Chambertin legend, Alain Burguet. Jérôme’s experience was so profound that he decided to leave his job as a cheesemaker in his native Loire and move to Burgundy to start winemaking studies. He eventually started his domaine in 2002 with a tiny plot of vine of only 0.05Ha. Since then, he has expanded the holdings to five hectares of mostly very old vines in the Côte de Nuits. He now produces wine from the appellations of Gevrey-Chambertin, Fixin, Marsannay, Côte de Nuits village, Bourgogne rouge and blanc aiming to deliver wines that speak of their place.

Jérôme puts most of his focus in the vineyards. He only uses copper, sulphur and herbal teas to treat the vines and plows regularly to maintain oxygen levels in the topsoil. The estate has been certified Biodynamic since 2015. The harvest is done by hand and followed by thorough sorting. Intuitive, Jérôme doesn't follow any given rules in the cellar and will adapt his approach in accordance with the vintage and the fruits harvested. The vinification is carried out with indigenous yeast only and wines are aged in barrels, 12 months for whites and 18 to 24 months for reds. The wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal addition of sulfur.

Jérôme’s wines are perfumed, precise, refined and elegant.

🌙 BIODYNAMIC

5.5 Ha

Gilbert and Christine form the second generation of wine grower on this relatively young estate. They succeeded their father and founder of the domaine, Henri Felettig who created the estate in the 1970s.

The Domaine of 12.5 heactares now comprises prestigious appellations such as Grand Cru les Echézeaux and many of the premier crus of Chambolle-Musigny.

Until recently, much of Felettig’s wine was sold to négociants, including the Dominique Laurent, Olivier Bernstein or even Domaine Dujac’s negociant operation, all of whom valued the careful, organic farming of Gilbert.

Now, however, Gilbert Felettig has found a style of his own in the winery, and the entire crop is domaine-bottled. The production is quite limited with only about 50,000 bottles produced per year.

The vines are farmed completely organically, the harvest is done manually and the fruit is sorted twice: once in the vineyards and then again at the cuverie. The fruit is then mostly de-stemmed and Gilbert uses around 10 to 50% new oak depending on the wine, with ageing lasting between 13 to 15 months. The new wine is then transferred by gravity to a bottling line where it is bottled without fining or filtrating.

Felettig wines are traditionally crafted, and very representative of a style of Chambolle that is not too unlike that of Domaine Roumier. It therefore comes as no surprise that Gilbert is universally seen as one of the rising stars in Burgundy.

🍀 ORGANIC

12.5 Ha

The history of Domaine Sylvain Cathiard began in 1930 when Sylvain’s grandfather Alfred Cathiard who worked at Domaine de la Romanée Conti and at Lamarche was given a small plot in Vosne Romaneée. He soon enlarged his holdings by contracting numerous métayage agreements with the Thomas-Moillard family. During that time, Cathiard was only selling its production to négociants, but in the 50’s he and his son Andre started selling their wine under their name.

In the 1970’s Sylvain joined his father, they managed to acquire a parcel in the now very much sought after premier cru Aux Malconsorts, and in the 1980’s they further expanded their holdings with a plot in the premier cru les Suchots. Finally, in 1996 Sylvain acquired some of the Grand Cru Romanée Saint Vivant, which is the estate’s flagship wine. In 2005, Sylvain’s son Sébastien joined the family estate being the 4th generation of Cathiards working in here. Since 2011, Sébastien has been fully managing the estate.

The viticulture practices follow the Lutte Raisonnée principles: the vineyards are ploughed and the use of chemicals is minimised. Sébastien Cathiard prefers his wines to be little extracted and produces wines of riveting complexity and concentration. With the 2014 and 2015 vintages, he has firmly established the Cathiard name as one of the very best in all of Burgundy, and critics and winelovers alike can only look forward to the wines improving further during the next years.

🍀 Lutte Raisonnée

4 Ha

The success story of Leroy started in 1868 with Maison Leroy, a négociant business founded by François Leroy. Through the years it became more and more difficult to find growers with wines that met the strict standards worthy of the Maison Leroy label. Therefore, Lalou Bize-Leroy, François’ great-granddaughter, made the decision to expand Maison Leroy’s own vineyards. In 1988 she founded Domaine Leroy by purchasing, the estates of Charles Noellat in Vosne-Romanée and of Philippe-Rémy in Gevrey-Chambertin. In total Domaine Leroy now has close to 22 hectares and produces some of the greatest Burgundy wines.

The estate has been working biodynamically since the beginning, as Lalou Bize-Leroy has always been a firm believer in this philosophy. Their viticultural methods are meticulous and very demanding involving rigorous pruning, replacing each individual dead vine stock with a selection massale from the Domaine’s plants. At harvest, all bunches are thoroughly sorted and are put into tailor-made wooden fermentation vats that fit a specific parcel of vines. Every stage of the vinification is driven by the desire to preserve each terroir’s identity. The temperature of fermentation can reach 33C to allow more extraction of flavours, and only indigenous yeasts are in operation. The wine is then transferred to casks with its lees, reds and whites are all matured in new oak barrels. Wines are racked in the middle of their élevage, and are bottled without fining or filtering.

The wines produced here are undoubtedly the greatest in all of Burgundy. No other estate works so precisely in the vineyard and cellar, and produces wines of such admirable concentration and complexity. No matter whether it is a ‘mere’ village wine or a Grand Cru, these are some of the very best wines made in the world today.

21.9 Ha

🌙 BIODYNAMIC

Cécile Tremblay, grandniece of the emblematic Henri Jayer, descends from a long line of vignerons but has rapidly succeeded to make a name for herself in the world of wine. She is now considered by numerous critics to be Burgundy’s next super star following in the footsteps of the region’s grande dame: Lalou-Bize Leroy.

Three hectares in the Côte de Nuits were passed down to Cécile through the two branches of her family, Jayer and Mugneret, both from Vosne-Romanée. Tremblay first bottled wines in 2003 and in a very short period of time her small production cuvees became sought after by the best restaurants of Paris.

The Domaine‘s range of appellations is very small, but its holdings are in the best locations. Two wines are bottled from Vosne-Romanée, including an outstanding village cuvée. The primary source for this wine are 45-50 year old vines in the lieu-dit Les Jacquines, but also included fruit from a tiny parcel (0.23 ha.) of 40 year old vines in the premier cru Les Rouges du Dessus. A more perfumed and powerfully structured wine is made from 75 years old vines in the large premier cru Les Beaux Monts.

In Chambolle-Musigny, Cécile owns half hectare of 50 years old vines in the premier cru Les Feusselottes and some village level plots. Another parcel of 50 year old vines in the Grand Cru Chapelle-Chambertin (0.40 ha.) produces one of her greatest wines, rivalled only by her Echézeaux, which is routinely one of the very best wines from that vineyard..

Cécile’s winemaking is incredibly meticulous, and indeed it is difficult to think of another winemaker who is so thoughtful and careful in what they are doing in the cellar as she is. Unsurprisingly, given the quality of her wines, these have become incredibly rare and hard to find.

🍀 ORGANIC / 🌙 BIODYNAMIC

12.5 Ha

Jean & Gilles Lafouge are the 6th generation of winemakers to run this small family Domaine, which is regularly cited as one of the top Domaines of the Appellation. Gilles has now fully taken over the reins, but his father, in typical Burgundian fashion, still works in the vineyards.

Vineyard work is meticulous, virtually organic with minimal chemicals, organic fertiliser and regular airing of the soil. Harvest is all by hand and sorting severe. Vinification includes cold soaking for up to 2-3 weeks and ageing is all in oak barrels with the premier crus benefiting with up to 40-50% new oak depending on the vintage.

🍀 LUTTE RAISONNÉE

6 Ha

Based in Meursault the domaine was set up by Henri Germain in 1973. It’s now his son, Jean-François Germain, who manages the 7 hectares of vineyard spread around Meursault, Chassagne-Montrachet and Beaune.

The admiration that Germain receives on the Côte itself speaks volumes about the quality of his wines. Producers in our portfolio like Olivier Lamy, Thierry Pillot, Charles Lachaux and Benjamin Leroux have regularly made the claim that the wines of Jean-François Germain are the best in Meursault!

The Germain methods are very traditional with organic farming, low yields and cellar work that keeps interference to a minimum. The vinification is minimalist in the extreme with no added yeasts, no enzymes and not even any bâtonnage. If the lees are sufficiently clean, the wines are never racked and the élevage lasts 18 months for the village wines and a full 22 months for the remaining wines. Importantly, the wines see little new oak, usually between 20-30%.

🍀 Organic

7 Ha

In 2005, Marc and Alexandre Bachelet created Domaine Bachelet-Monnot from the union of the vineyards held by their father and their uncle.

The two brothers farm just over twenty hectares of vines. The white holdings include 1.3 hectares of Bourgogne in Puligny (30 feet from the edge of the AOC), some very well situated, old vine villages, small holdings in both Les Folatières and Les Referts and a tiny plot of Bâtard Montrachet from that vineyard’s coolest upper reaches. The red wines, all within Santenay and Maranges, comprise a Bourgogne Rouge from declassified village sites, two Maranges 1er Cru; Clos de la Boutiere and La Fussière and an old vine parcel in Santenay Les Charmes. In so often forgotten appellations such as Maranges and Santenay it is fascinating to see what a new pair of well-travelled eyes, an innate understanding of each vineyard’s terroir and instinctive winegrowing talent can produce.

The Bachelet brothers adopt an unforced, labour-intensive approach to achieve their goals of naturally balanced and precise wines. In the vineyards, no herbicide is used and the rows are ploughed regularly to manage weeds, aerate the soil, and cut the horizontal roots to encourage deep growth. In the cellar, the percentage of new barrels used is roughly 25%; the wine is aged for twelve months before being racked into tank (or, in the case of the reds, concrete vats) for another six to eight months of ageing on the lees before bottling.

Bachelet-Monnot has been captivating the wine world right from the start and with each subsequent release outdoing the last it’s a domaine to keep an eye on!

🍀 Organic

20 Ha

Chassagne-Montrachet is quickly establishing itself as Burgundy’s most exciting village for white winemaking. With a host of younger vignerons who keep improving their wines year in, year out it is a village that is completely redefining it’s reputation. One of the pioneers of this movement is Domaine Bernard Moreau’s Alexandre Moreau. Since he took over the family estate, he’s continuously improved the winemaking, whilst remaining very traditional in his approach.

Today, alongside a handful of other domaines he’s without doubt one of the greatest makers of white Burgundy around.

🍀 Organic

14 Ha

The Domaine dates back to the second half of the 19th century when Thierry’s great-grandfather, Jean-Baptiste Pillot, decided to concentrate on viticulture rather than barrel making, having done both for some time previously. The reputation of this Chassagne-Montrachet domaine has long been better than solid, but since Thierry Pillot joined his father Paul in the winery in 1999 there has been an incremental but notable shift upwards in quality. It was Paul who really extended the holdings of the domaine and bought many of the vineyards which the domaine is famous for now, such as Caillerets and Grandes Ruchottes. Thierry and his sister Chrystelle now fully run the 13-hectare domaine.

Attention to detail is both evident and crucial. Thierry is known to use minimal amount of new oak on the wines to allow the full expression of the different terroirs. Wines have a beautifully balanced acidity with a clean, vibrant mineral character.

13 Ha

Located in Santenay, Domaine Jean-Marc Vincent was established by Jean-Marc and his wife Anne-Marie in 1997. The couple has been gradually retrieving the vineyards of Vincent’s grandfather that were rented out via metayage agreements. Today the estate counts 6 hectares over the appellations of Santenay, Auxey-Duresses, Saint-Aubin, Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet.

Training his canopies higher and rolling them, planting at high densities—up to 17,000 vines per hectare—, Vincent is proudly inspired by Saint-Aubin visionary Olivier Lamy, and his work in the vines translates to exceptional energy and concentration in the glass.

All grapes are harvested by hand, with several passes through the vineyard to pick grapes at optimal maturity. The reds see a classic cuvaison—of de-stemmed or whole cluster fruit depending on the vintage and vineyard—followed by élevage in 30% to 40% new wood for a minimum of 15 months. Whites are pressed long and comparatively firmly, followed by fermentation and élevage of increasingly prolonged duration in wood. All appellations are treated with the same meticulous care!

Characterised by an intense expression of individual terroir and a solid structure all of Jean-Marc Vincent’s wines are a testament to the importance of vigneron talent in a given appellation.

While a great vigneron can make over-achievers from any appellation, a great appellation will never live up to its reputation in the hands of mediocrity.

🍀 ORGANIC

6 Ha

A domaine on a mission. Aiming to restore the great terroirs of Cruzille that have been abandoned after phylloxera, the Guillot family have been practicing organic farming since decades. Over the years, this estate grew from 1ha to 17ha and has not only re-claimed many of its vineyards back from nature, but also experiments with high density, en foule planting of un-grafted vines. Stylistically, these wines are incredibly concentrated, with plenty of dry extract and a capacity to age that few other producers in the Maconnais manage to achieve.

Jean-Claude Bessin’s Cellar lies underneath the church in La Chapelle Vaupelteigne.

Though trained as an architect, Jean-Claude Bessin preferred to take over the vineyards of his father-in-law, who was a member of the cooperative. From his 12 hectares he produces Chablis vieilles vignes, Chablis Montmains premier cru, Chablis Fourchaume premier cru and Chablis Valmur grand cru. A special cuvée of Fourchaume is labeled as La Pièce au Comte.

Evolution in recent years has been towards more natural winemaking, in the vineyard he aims to limit the yield of the old vines (45-50 hl/ha) and most of the crop is now harvested by hand. Natural yeasts are preferred for the fermentation. The wines have a long élevage on fine lees, the crus being bottles after 15 to 18 months, with a proportion of barrel fermentation and maturation for the top wines.

🍀 ORGANIC / 🌙 BIODYNAMIC

12 Ha

The domaine grows 20 appellations split between the Côte Chalonnaise, Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits. The Pinot Noirs are 100% de-stemmed and go through a cold maceration. After fermentation the red wines are aged in barrel (1/3 new wood) for 12 months. No cold maceration is implemented on the whites and only 25% of new oak is used. Vincent’s commitment to excellence has made him become one of the great producers of white Burgundy, who have somewhat stayed under the radar.

🍀 Organic

17 Ha