Chandon de Briailles
- Côte de Beaune, Burgundy, France
... for my money, these are among the small handful of wines that realize the true potential of the hill of Corton—to say nothing of the domaine's reference-point wines from Savigny-lès-Beaune and Pernand-Vergelesses."
—William Kelley, Wine Advocate
"The proprietors, the de Nicolay family, make natural, pure, delicious whites and reds that reward aging. They do make grand cru Cortons, both white and red, but most of their production is village and premier crus from Savigny-lès-Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses and Aloxe-Corton. The reds are spicy and expressive. Highly recommended."
—Eric Asimov, New York Times
This domaine is quickly becoming one of the very finest to be found anywhere in the Côte D’Or...these are great, classically styled, terroir-driven red and white Burgundies that age brilliantly, and are among the treasures to be found in the Côte de Beaune for those adventurous enough to try a few bottles.”
—John Gilman, View From the Cellar.
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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