Everything old is new again. If you had visited Celler del Roure ten years ago, you would have been treated to a modern, minimalist, and spotless cellar with assorted stainless steel tanks and new French oak barrels. After touring the current technology in viticulture, you would be taken on a tour of the ancient property, including an old olive oil press, various outbuildings, and a subterranean cellar dug into the bedrock below the estate. This cellar afforded a glimpse of the winemaking practices from centuries ago. The cellar’s winding halls are lined by dozens of amphorae embedded into the earth, each with individual stone lids. Many are joined by stone channels carved into the rock, serving as the most rudimentary form of gravity flow. Some amphorae had cracked over the years, but a surprising number remained in perfect condition.

Such a complete and well-preserved artifact of viniculture would have remained an intellectual curiosity for most people, but Pablo saw it as an opportunity to explore how wines were made centuries ago and how they would have tasted. Such an endeavor makes complete sense once you meet Pablo and understand his connection with the history of the area around the village of Moixent. As a proponent of the indigenous varieties of the area such as Mando and Verdil, how could he not also champion indigenous viniculture? While there are still “modern” wines made at Roure, including 16 Gallets, Les Alcusses, and Maduresa, we are quite taken with the new cuvées aged in amphorae in the ancient cellar: Cullerot, Vermell, Safrà, and Parotet.

Pablo’s vineyards are farmed manually and organically, and harvests are by hand in small crates. Vine age ranges from 15 to 70 years old, and the soils are various clays – ranging from fine alluvial and loamy soils to rockier limestone terroirs. Increasingly, he uses more and more whole clusters in the fermentation, finding the finished wines are more refined and savory – elements that are emphasized by the aging in amphorae.

This profile and tasting notes were edited from the European Cellars website, along with the pictures used. For more information please visit: European Cellars.

This historic estate was established in 1834. Claude de Nicolay took over from her mother as winemaker in 1988 and crafts traditionally styled wines from one of the Côte d'Or's great terroirs, the hill of Corton and its surrounding villages. Corton is just north of Beaune and it's easy to spot, as it's a big hill with a forest on top. It's a limestone outcropping that is set apart from the main "côte" of the Côte de Beaune or Côte de Nuits. It is a bit of an anomaly in the Côte d'Or as the Grand Crus are named after the hill, rather than attached to a specific village. Three villages have vineyards that are a part of Corton: Aloxe, Ladoix, and Pernand-Vergelesses. Corton is the only place with red Grand Cru in the Côte de Beaune. 

Already in the early 1980's Nicolay's mother, Nadine, stopped using any herbicides or pesticides in the vineyards and the vineyards have been organic since 1998. Francois de Nicolay, after running a wine shop in Paris for several years, joined his sister at the domaine in 2001. Through his experience of tasting wines from all over France, he became interested in biodynamic farming and by 2005, the vineyard management was fully biodynamic. The brother and sister team are incredibly curious and always making trials to acheive the best soil health and expression from their terroir. They were the first in Burgundy to treat oidium with milk instead of a copper sulfur mix and it's now a permissible treatment for certified organic agriculture. They own 13.7 hectares and "every vine is touched." Since 2014, they have been working with training the vines higher and longer, which gives the vines protection from the sun / shade for the grapes, and also allows for more photosynthesis, giving the plant more energy. They own three horses now and eventually would like to use horses entirely instead of tractors. They are also working with herbal infusions to boost the health of the vines and soil. 

In the cellar, no enological products are used (except for sulfur in very small quantities), no tartaric acid, no exogenous yeasts, no tannin powder, no enzymes, etc. The winery itself has also been certified biodynamic since 2012. When most people mention biodynamic, they are referring to the farming. It's a separate certification for the cellar. The Chandon de Briailles wines are quite unique in the fact that there is a negligible amount of new oak for aging and most wines are made with a whole-cluster fermentation. For many years, Chandon de Briailles used 100% whole clusters every year on every wine, but their style has gradually changed and since 2011 they adapt the amount of whole clusters according to the wine and vintage. If possible, they do still often work with 100% whole clusters. Fermentations start naturally a few days after harvest in cement tanks for all of the wines, except the grand cru, which are fermented in wooden fermenters. In 2015, the winery used a new stainless steel vertical press, which is incredibly gentle. It's considered the "Rolls Royce" of presses because it simply gives the most perfect and gentle press. Pleased with the results, they now only use the vertical press, changing the texture of the tannins. Aging is carried out in mostly used barrels (up to eight years-old). The maximum amount of new oak, even on the grand cru wines is 20%. All of the wines are bottled without fining or filtration. For more than ten years, they have been working with low sulfur and bottled no sulfur wines to see how they would age and travel. For the first time, for the 2017 vintage, they released a limited amount of wines bottled without any added sulfur. 

The Chandon de Briailles wines are truly gems within the Côte d'Or. They are not quite like any other Burgundy. When destemming, extraction, and new oak were the fashion, they were bottling all of their wines with 100% whole clusters and no new oak. Even today, with a max of 20% new oak, it's very low for grand cru Burgundy. Nothing quite stands still here and the only constant is the unending quest to learn more and experiment to achieve the best expression possible of Savigny-les-Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses, and Corton, irrespective of fashion. - Michele Peters, Bowler French Portfolio Manager

You can visit the very nice and informative website here.

From William Kelley, Robert Parker on the 2020 vintage at Chandon de Briailles:

François de Nicolay and his team have turned out another fine vintage at this Savigny-lès-Beaune reference point. Beginning harvest on August 17th and picking only in the mornings, yields were modest, coming in at around 28 hectoliters per hectare in red. As I've written before, over the last decade, vinification has become more and more gentle, with no pumping during fermentation or élevage and no filtration before bottling. The wines’ tannins are correspondingly finer, and their fruit richer and more vibrant than was formerly the case. The grapes are seldom destemmed, and de Nicolay's practice in recent years has been to begin fermentations with whole bunches without crushing, removing the fruit from the tanks after several days' intracellular fermentation, destemming it and returning it to tank to complete its sugars—thus avoiding, he contends, contact between the young wine and the bitter, potassium-rich stems. In the cellar, percentages of new oak are minimal, and de Nicolay has been experimenting with some "sans soufre" bottlings: including, this year, his entire production of Corton Maréchaudes.

From Neal Martin, Vinous on the 2020 vintage at Chandon de Briailles:
Proprietor François de Nicolay welcomed me with his three dogs. "It was not a cool winter as usual, and it was an early spring. Flowering went well, although the whites suffered a little frost, which is why the yields are low. The summer was hard because we lacked water in August. The ripeness came early and we started picking on August 17. We did not have to do a big selection, as we had no problem with mildew and oïdium. The fermentation was easy. There was a high level of alcohol, just under 2019 but with a better pH. Maybe that is why the wines still feel young at this stage compared to the 2019s. For some cuvées, we will conduct a longer élevage." This year, I preferred the reds to the whites, the latter feeling not quite as chiseled and tensile as I found the 2019s last year. But the reds have much to offer; they are classical in style, very respectful of their terroirs and full of energy.
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BOWLER E-Zine Issue 1 | Q4 2020: Burgundy - The Evolution of Chandon de Briailles

As at many family domaines with deep roots in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, vigneron Alexandre Favier was by his own account “raised in the vineyards”: Alexandre’s grandfather, Noël Sabon, is from one of the best known winemaking families in the region. Alexandre himself began his viticultural studies in Orange at the age of fifteen and passed the exams four years later in 2001. A year later (at age twenty!) he took over winemaking duties at the domaine when his father experienced health problems.

This is a traditional house with 40 hectares of red grapes and 5 hectares of white. They have parcels in all of the main soil types of Châteauneuf and they vinify the top parcels separately. Only native yeasts are employed in the cellar, and the reds are mostly de-stemmed.

Built in the 18th century, the Château de Fleurie dominates a beautiful vineyard situated in the heart of the village itself, with views of Mont Blanc in the east. The current owners- the Boisen and the Barbet families- are direct descendants of the original owner. The property covers 4.5 hectares stretching over the best sites in Fleurie- les Grands Fers, la Madone and le Point du Jour- on the middle slopes facing southeast. The soil is of a very pure granite, ideal for a good drainage, with a pink color called “le gore”. Farming is very traditional and free of pesticides and herbicides. The winemaking process is traditional "Burgundian" method with extended fermentation of 12-15 days, in vats covered by a weighted grill, to extract color and flavor. Under the winery a vaulted cellar holds an impressive store of old, traditional large oak barrels which are still in use. Fleurie is locally known as the "Queen of the Beaujolais" for its elegant style of Gamay.