Description
“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
“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
“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
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.
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.
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.
2021 is a year that will thrill those who crave zesty, juicy white Burgundies of impeccable freshness. They are wines that can be enjoyed young, yet will improve for a decade—the top wines possibly even longer. It’s up for debate whether or not this is a vintage for extended aging, but then great wine always finds a way of surprising us. The wines below offer classically styled Burgundies of great finesse from a great grower; rarities in this era of climate change!
About this wine: This comes mostly from a very well situated 0.6-hectare parcel of 35-year-old vines, planted on a northeast-facing hillside just south of Chassagne. There is also a little Chassagne village fruit in the blend. The fruit is hand-picked, pressed, left to settle, and then naturally fermented on lees for 12 months in small stainless-steel vats and older barrels. The wine is then blended and settled for a further six months in tank before bottling.
93 points, Charles Curtis MW, Decanter “Lemony, crisp, and very delicate, the Bourgogne Blanc from Domaine Paul Pillot is an unqualified success. The texture is ethereal, but a core of tension brings length and substance. This elegant wine is produced from various parcels in and around Chassagne.”
“The 2021 Bourgogne Chardonnay has a taut and quite steely bouquet, nicely focused with more energy than some Premier Crus! The palate is very well balanced and sports a subtle reduction, fine weight with light tropical fruit towards the finish.” 88-90 points, Neal Martin, Vinous
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