Une histoire de famille

Comme toutes les belles histoires, celle du Domaine de Montille fait voyager dans le temps. Le passé : ses racines. Le présent : la nouvelle génération. Un savant mélange, un équilibre entre tradition, audace et modernité.

La famille trouve ses origines au milieu du XVIIème siècle, à Créancey, dans l’Auxois, avec les Seigneurs de Commeau. Fondé dans les années 1730, le domaine est rebaptisé Domaine de Montille.

Hubert de Montille puis son fils, Etienne de Montille, actuel propriétaire du domaine, font confiance au trésor de richesse et de diversité que représente la mosaïque viticole bourguignonne et y consacrent leur vie.  Au fil des ans, ils reconstituent et étendent le patrimoine viticole familial, parcelle après parcelle. Volnay et Pommard en premier lieu, mais aussi Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet ou encore Vosne-Romanée,  sont aujourd’hui des appellations indissociables du Domaine de Montille.

François de Nicolay, manager of the Chandon de Briailles family estate in Savigny-Lès-Beaune, decided in the early 2000s to build a small “winemaker – producer – bottler” trading house. According to him, you can only make good wines with good raisins, a simple and pure evidence for François.

The philosophy of the house is to produce wines without artifice, without additives, from organic and/or biodynamic grapes cultivation, or in the process of transition to organic cultivation.

He ensures that the supplies of grapes, must or wine are of optimal quality, this is why he can afford to make pure wines without inputs. Thus, you will find at Maison François de Nicolay some cuvées made without added sulphites and other cuvées with an extremely low dose of sulphur.

The aging takes place in an old cellar in Savigny-Lès-Beaune, without pumping, filtration or fining and bottling is done by hand directly from the barrel.
It is an artisanal work which allows not to add sulfur and which provides the wine with all its original freshness. Natural and living wines, inventors with a master hand.

« J’aime les vins qui vibrent, qui donnent du plaisir et de l’envie. » François de Nicolay

Sixteen years ago, during our first recruitment-tour among producers in Burgundy, we visited three producers in Meursault. Today, we still work with all three of them. One of those was Domain Rémi Jobard.
In 1996, Rémi Jobard took over his father’s family estate. Naturally gifted and hardworking, Rémi Jobard today finds himself among the elites of Meursault. His vineyards include three premier cru parcels: Genevrières, Poruzots and Charmes, as well as plots in “second'” growths like Les Narvaux and Les Chevalières. In those last two lieux-dits, Remi produced Meursaults whose character is more in line with premier crus than with villages wines. His whites might be best described as elegant and linear.
Jobard also produces beautiful red wines in Monthélie as well as a premier cru Volnay Santenots. His aligoté, and white and red Burgundies offer stellar value. His white burgundy is sourced from six parcels adjacent to the Meursault appellation. The resulting wine is stunning—a baby Meursault at a fraction of the cost.

Domaine Rapet is based in Pernand Vergelesses, perhaps the most beautiful wine village in the Cote d’Or.

The domaine’s website makes their aims explicit : “A great wine is obtained from good grapes. Our entire focus centers around the minute and careful work required to tend the vines and soil. It is serious, applied labour…” Domaine Rapet’s red wines are full and supple. They taste great when young, while also having the capacity to improve with age. Their whites, from Pernand Vergelesses and Corton-Charlemagne, are very direct and focused, offering incredibly precise interpretations of their terroirs.

Pierre Morey is an illustrious name in Burgundy as he was in a métayage agreement with Domaine des Comtes Lafon until the late 1980s.

When their partnership came to an end, he started a négociant firm named after his father and mother: Morey-Blanc. He was also the régisseur of the equally famous Domaine Leflaive from 1988 to 2008. While there, he ran his own domain and his négoce business alongside supervising things at Domaine Leflaive. Today, Pierre Morey works alongside his daughter Anne.
An early authority on biodynamic grape growing, he converted his own domaine to organic farming in 1993, and has been practicing biodynamics since 1998. In his cellar, 20% of stems are used in his reds, and the wines undergo a prolonged vinification period. His whites, always blessed with glorious levels of minerality, receive an élevage of 18 months in barrels, of which less than 40% are in new barrels. The white wines of Pierre Morey are dazzling examples of Burgundian haute couture.