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Domaine Thibert in Fuissé:
From 2 to 22 in 2 generations

– 20 years is a long time. But for experimenting it is short.

Christophe Thibert has spent the past two decades of his winemaking career at Domaine Thibert in Fuissé. During that time the domaine has gone from selling the whole production in bulk to bottling everything themselves. It has gone from just a few hectares to 22 hectares of vines. And in 2007 they slowly began moving towards organic winegrowing.

– It is difficult, so you have to be careful, Christophe Thibert says about organic winegrowing. I prefer to have a mix, with both traditional and organic winegrowing.

Read the whole interview with Domaine Thibert >>>

Domaine Bonvalot in Pernand-Vergelesses:
Passion for sale

Burgundy is well-known for being fragmented. The surface area is relatively small compared to other regions, but the number of winegrowers is large. As a result there are many small producers working between five and eight hectares of vines. But there are also producers that could be labelled as tiny, producers like Domaine Bonvalot that only have one hectare and a half.

– I had a passion for wine so I planted some vines for white Pernand-Vergelesses, explains Daniel Bonvalot. This was meant only for my private consumption, but my first harvest produced 1500 bottles and I can’t possibly drink 1500 bottles a year. So I began selling some bottles to friends and for the money that I earned I bought more land that I planted.

Read the whole interview with Daniel Bonvalot >>>

Domaine Chavy-Chouet in Meursault:
Generation six and seven

Domaine Chavy-Chouet in Meursault, or Domaine Hubert & Romaric Chavy as the new name will be, has a firm grip on both Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet, with about 40 per cent of their land holdings in each village. Since the arrival of Romaric, the son of Hubert, this domaine has gone from producing 30 000-40 000 bottles a year to an annual production of 80 000 bottles in 2009.

This is also the home of the Clos des Corvées de Citeau, a village appellation monopole right in the heart of Meursault.

– The Clos was originally planted by the monks, explains Romaric Chavy. It was the property of the Cîteaux Abbey and it was tended by the monks at the Château de Cîteaux in Meursault.

Read the whole interview with Romaric Chavy >>>

Domaine Michel Juillot:
Kidnapped in Mercurey

Over two generations the Mercurey-based Domaine Michel Juillot has grown from covering six hectares to a total of 32.5 hectares. Two thirds of the vines are in Mercurey. The remaining third is distributed elsewhere on the Côte Chalonnaise and around the Corton hill, where the domaine has both Corton-Charlemagne and Corton-Perrières.

But this is not really where this interview takes its beginning. It all began out in the Mercurey vineyards with what simply could be described as a kidnapping. I’m out with my camera shooting the vines of the “Vignes de Maillonge” when a car pulls up behind me. The man behind the wheel hands me a corkscrew and begins talking about winetasting. Since it is just a few minutes before noon my immediate plans include lunch. But the man in front of me, who turns out to be Michel Juillot, has other plans and he will not take no for an answer. So off we go.

Read the whole interview with Laurent Juillot >>>

Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier
in Chambolle-Musigny:
Giving nature a helping hand

Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier in Chambolle-Musigny has been running the domaine that bears his name since the mid-1980’s. Over the years he has acquired a very down-to-earth view on his work.

– I don’t have a very romantic idea of winemaking, he explains. It’s not a creative process. The creation is done by nature. I’m just in charge of providing the proper environment for the grapes to transform themselves into wine.

Read the whole interview with Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier >>>

Domaine Lucie et Auguste Lignier:
Making beautiful wines

Kellen Lignier arrived in Burgundy in the late 1990’s. Since then she has found herself a new occupation, she has seen land prices go through the roof and she has discovered that a domaine of 8.3 hectares can be both too big and too small.

– I find wine to be very sensual, she says. And I find working with grapevines to be a beautiful way to participate in nature. I love wine now, so it is a pleasure for me to make wines that I love and that I can drink every day. It is a pleasure to have beautiful vineyards and to have lovely grapes coming in. I think it is a beautiful thing to do. I don’t know what else I would do because I really enjoy this.

Read the whole interview with Kellen Lignier >>>

Domaine Bonneau du Martray:
Vintage character speaks louder than ever

Domaine Bonneau du Martray has a history that goes way back, but it was only in the early 1970’s that the domaine began to bottle its own wine. Since then Bonneau du Martray has become synonymous with Corton-Charlemagne. Since 1994 Jean-Charles le Bault de la Morinière has been fine-tuning the estate that his father brought back to life. Vintage character and continuity are two words he often comes back to.

– In recent years, since 2003 I think that the vintage character speaks louder than ever, he says. Each vintage reflects something. Personally I find it positive. It is never exactly the same wine. There is some continuity, but each vintage brings a certain nuance that provides great pleasure.

Read the whole interview with Jean-Charles le Bault de la Morinière >>>

Domaine Brelière in Rully:
100 per cent Rully

Domaine Brelière is pure Rully. Jean-Claude and Anna Brelière run a seven hectare domaine at the top of the Côte Chalonnaise. All their wines are Rully wines. Both red and white. Both on village level and on premier cru level.

– My father refused to have any other appellation, Jean-Claude Brelière says jokingly. Quite a few of my colleagues have some Mercurey vines. There was a time when the Rully wines were difficult to sell and when it was easier to sell Mercurey. I would imagine that it was thanks to his crémant, that he had another product to sell, that my father didn’t have to look for vineyards in Mercurey.

Read the whole interview with Jean-Claude Brelière >>>

Domaine Anne Gros in Vosne-Romanée:
From the bottom to the top, and then to the Minervois

In the late 1980’s Domaine François Gros was going downhill. Due to illness quality suffered badly and most of the wine was sold off in bulk. It was under these circumstances that Anne Gros took on the family domaine. Today she is one of the major players in Burgundy and recently she has branched out into the Minervois in the south of France.

– I decided to give it a try, just like revenge, Anne Gros says about taking on the domaine. In a way my father was pretty sure that the estate would be sold, because I was a girl. But... voila!

Read the whole interview with Anne Gros >>>

Hungry anyone?
Eating in Burgundy

Aah, eating in Burgundy! Can’t be much better. Whether you go shopping and prepare dinner yourself or you go out to a restaurant this is the place to be. Traditional Burgundian cooking is rustic, in the most positive sense. Oeufs en Meurette, Jambon persillé and Boeuf Bourguignon are all well-known dishes. Then there are l’escargots, the snails, in various shapes and forms.

Read more >>>

Lamblin & Fils in Maligny:
From father to son

From father to son. They know the routine by now. The Lamblin family has been doing this since 1690. This Chablis firm has been run by the same family for over 300 years. During twelve generations Lamblin & Fils has gone from being a small operation that included both wine and other crops to a company that exports to 50 countries around the world.

– Our grandfather, Henry Lamblin, developed the commercial side of it, explains Didier Lamblin. Then our father, Jacques Lamblin, developed the négociant business and the export market. Before him the market had been mainly in France. A lot was sold to Paris. Now our children have arrived. It is once again a new generation.

Read the whole interview with Didier Lamblin >>>

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