Cutting Edge Chassagne Montrachet ‘the next Burgundian superstar’
Thierry Pillot, well supported by his sister Chrystelle, continues to produce benchmark, pure and intense white Burgundies at his family Domaine. The quality reflects the impressive work in the vines (13 people working 12 hectares of vineyards), as well as incremental evolution in the cellar. Despite the quality and the ever-increasing demand, Thierry and his family remain as humble and discreet as ever: there is no Instagram here!
With each vintage, the wines here get purer and more refined. Thierry is great friends with Vincent Dancer, Marc Bachelet, Arnaud Mortet and many other young guns of Burgundy. He is part of a revolution that has been sweeping through the Côte d’Or: a zeitgeist being driven by a new generation. The wines of his father were always good, in no small part due to the quality of the holdings. However, it is strikingly clear to us, and regular visitors like Allen Meadows, that this invigorated address has well and truly kicked things up a gear and now bears comparison with the very best that the Côte de Beaune has to offer.
This is a young grower obsessed with freshness and tension, and alongside the superb density, courtesy of low yields and impeccable farming practices, Pillot’s wines deliver these qualities in spades.
The Pillot’s farm first class holdings in some of Chassagne’s greatest vineyards; La Romanée, Les Grandes Ruchottes, Les Caillerets and La Grande Montagne. The Domaine also makes a stunning Clos St-Jean from the heart of the original Clos traditionally called Chassagne du Clos Saint-Jean. The Pillot family owns just over one hectare here—split equally between Pinot Noir and Chardonnay—and are, in fact, the largest owners in the Clos.
In the cellar, the winemaking is geared towards preserving freshness: this is a Domaine obsessed with tension, and Pillot’s whites deliver these qualities in spades. Thierry prefers to crush his grapes before pressing (for lees) and there is no settling, temperature control or battonage. The grapes simply ferment on high solids and wild yeasts at their own pace. Large-format casks of 350 and 500-litres are the fermenting and aging vessels of choice. The whites are fermented wild and matured for 12-18 months on lees in these barrels, before six months in tank. The lees are never stirred, and the wines are bottled unfiltered.
Thierry Pillot’s red wines have really come of age in recent years, to the point where they now hold their own compared with the Domaine’s whites. Pillot’s friendship and gentle rivalry with brother-in-law Arnaud Mortet may have played a part in this improvement. The reds are fermented with between 20-60% whole bunches, and like the whites, very little (if any) new oak is used.
AT-A-GLANCE • This fourth-generation estate in Chassagne-Montrachet is run by leading young Burgundy vignerons, Thierry Pillot and his sister Chrystelle. • The estate covers about 13 hectares of vines across 17 appellations, predominantly in Chassagne, with smaller holdings in Saint-Aubin and Santenay. • The siblings farm some of the most prized sites in Chassagne, including Les Caillerets, La Romanée and Les Grandes Ruchottes. • Farming is organic, all the Premier Cru vines are worked exclusively by hand (an average of one person works each hectare), vines are trained high, and yields are tightly controlled. • Whites are crushed before pressing and fermentation on heavy solids in large, primarily old wood. Maturations are long, 12-18 months. Reds include bunches and minimal new wood. • The range includes whites and reds from Chassagne, Saint-Aubin and Santenay, from Bourgogne to Premier Cru. There is also an Aligoté. • Demand is very high and the wines are sold on allocation. IN THE PRESS “Domaine Paul Pillot is one of those producers making whites with a real gleam, a luminous clarity. I taste hundreds of wines in Burgundy week, and have to scramble through my notes to check in with my views on many of them, but with Domaine Paul Pillot I remember where the table was in the room, and where I was standing as the wine hit my tastebuds.” Victoria Moore, The Telegraph “Characterful, elegantly textural and mouthwateringly incisive, these are superb white Burgundies, and to my mind, Pillot is one of a handful of exciting producers who win Chassagne-Montrachet the title of Burgundy's most interesting white wine producing village today.” William Kelley, The Wine Advocate “Thierry Pillot is one of the best young white winemakers in Burgundy right now… Buy these wines before Monsieur Pillot becomes the next Burgundian superstar.” Tim Atkin MW
Country
France
Primary Region
Côte de Beaune
People
Winemaker: Thierry Pillot
Availability
National